An ecclesiastical biography : containing the lives of ancient fathers and modern divines, interspersed with notices of heretics and schismatics, forming a brief history of the church in every age

:^rof?7h^

^/officalSs'5:^

moiJ^QaM^ Ji^auKd?, 1798

1875.
An ecclesiastical biographj

I

AN

ECCLESIASTICAL BIOGRAPHY,

CONTAINING THE

Etbes of Ancient jFati^ers antr iWolrem Hibtnes,

IXTERSPEBSED WITH NOTICES OF

HERETICS AND SCKISIUXATICS,

A BEIEF HISTORY OF THE CHUECH IN EVERY AGE.

BY

/

WALTER FARQUHAR HOOK, D.D.,

VICAR OF LEEDS.

VOL. III.

LONDON :

F, AND J. RIVINGTON ;

PARKER, OXFORD ; J. AND J. J. DEIGHTON, CAMBRIDGE

T. HARRISON, LEEDS.

1847.

Leeds: G. Crawsliaw, Printer.

PREFACE.

In the Third Volume of the Ecclesiastical Biography,
the reader will find an account

Of the Church of England before the Refor-
mation, in the Lives of Archbishops Bourchier,
Bradvvardine, and Chichele, which are given in
some detail :

Of the Reformation in Ireland, in the Life of
Archbishop Browne :

Of the Foreign Reformation, in the Lives of
Bucer, Carolostadt, Calvin, Bugenhagius, Bul-
linger :

Of a Martyr, in the Life of Bradford :

Of the Nonjurors, in the Lives of Brett, Brokesby,
Carte :

Of the Romanists, in the Lives of Bourne, Cajetan,
Campegio, Cam pi an :

Of Dissent, in the Lives of Brown and Cartwright :

Of the Puritans and Presbyterians, in the Lives
of Barges, Burton, Cameron, Cant, Cargill,
Cheynell :

Of Divines, in the Lives of Bishop Bull, Archbishop
Bramhall, Bishop Burnet, Bishop Brownrigg,
Bishop Buckeridge, Bishop Butler, Dr. Brevint,
Dr. Busby, Archbishop Boulter.

It was intended to include in this Volume the
Lives of St. Chrysostom, St. Cyprian, and St. Cyril,
together with that of Archbishop Cranraer, but as
these Lives occupy a considerable space, they will be
found in the early Parts of the Fourth Volume.

ECCLESIASTICAL BIOGRAPHY.

BOSTON, JOHN.

John Boston, a monk of St. Edmund's Burj in the 14th
century, was one of the first collectors of the lives of Eng-
lish writers, in which he preceded Leland, Bale, and Pitts.
His diligence was uncommonly great, and besides this
biographical work, he wrote " Speculum ccenobitarum,"
in which he gives a history of monachism. This was
printed by Hall at Oxford in 17"22, 8vo. His work " De

rebus Ccenobii sui" has been lost. Tanner. Fuller's

Worthies.

BOSTON, THOMAS.

Thomas Boston was bom at Dunse, in 1676, and was
educated at Edinburgh. In the year 1696 he kept a school
at Glencairn, and there became tutor in a gentleman's
family till 1699, when he was licensed to preach, and the
same year was ordained as pastor of Simprin. In 1707 he
removed to Ettrick, where he remained till his death in
1732. He devoted many years of his life to the study of
Hebrew, and wrote a learned treatise in Latin concerning
Hebrew accents. But he is better known by his "Four-
fold State," and his " Body of Divinity," which are said
to be highly esteemed among presbyterians. He left a
memoir of his own life, which was printed in 1776.

VOL. III. A

BOUCHER.

BOTT, THOIVIAS.

Thomas Bott was born at Derby in 1688, and became a
presbjterian preacher at Spalding, in Lincolnshire. Not
liking his situation, at the end of queen Anne's reign he
removed to London, and studied as a physician. But on
the accession of George the first, he shrewdly perceived
that the ministers would look out for men of lax opinions
and practice in the church for preferment, and that the
religious clergy would be passed over on account of their
political principles. He accordingly sought for and ob-
tained holy orders, and soon became a pluralist. He was
of Hoadley's school, and his opinions more nearly accorded
with those of pagan philosophers than with Christian
verity. Among his works are " Remarks on the sixth
chapter of bishop Butler's Analogy," and " An answer to
the first volume of bishop Warburton's Divine Legation
of Moses." He died at Norwich, 23rd September, 1754.
— Kippis. Biog. Brit.

BOUCHER, JONATHAN:.

Jonathan Boucher was born in 1738, at Blencogo, in
Cumberland. He received his education at the school of
Wigton, after which he went to America, where, on taking
orders, he obtained first the living of Hanover in Virginia,
and afterwards Queen Anne's parish, in Prince George's
county. In 1775 he was obliged to relinquish his charge,
and seek refuge in England, his principles being those of
a royalist. He had discharged his duties as a clergyman,
and maintained his character for loyalty, with such firm-
ness and discretion, that he was received in England with
respect. He was for some time a curate, but in 1784 he
was presented to the vicarage of Epsom, in Surrey, by the
celebrated John Parkhurst, author of the Greek and
Hebrew Scripture Lexicons, who knew him only by charac-
ter, but thought himself unable to discharge his trust as

BOULTER. 3

an ecclesiastical patron more satisfactorily, than in pre-
ferring a learned, worthy clergyman, who had abandoned
home and living rather than violate his obligations as an
Englishman. He died in 1804. Mr. Boucher published,
1. A letter to bishop Watson, in answer to his letter to
the archbishop of Canterbury, 4to, 1783 2. A view of the
causes and <x)nsequences of the American Revolution, in
thirteen discourses, 8yo, 1797. 3. Two assize sermons,
preached in 1798. He was also the author of a tract,
entitled "A Cumberland Man," and several biographical
articles in Hutchinson's histoiy of that county. Before
his death he engaged in a glossaiy of provincial and
archaeological words, which he left incomplete ; but a
portion of it, containing the first letter of the alphabet,
was printed. — Gent. Mag. Allans Amencan Biog. Diet.

BOULTER, HUGH.

Hugh Boulter was born in or near London, January
4th, 1671, and educated at Merchant Taylor's school,
whence he removed to Christ Church, Oxford, a short time
previous to the revolution. He was noticed by Dr. Hough,
the restored president of Magdalene College, where he was
elected demy, together with Addison, and Wilcox, after-
wards bishop of Rochester. He subsequently became
fellow, and continued resident till 1700, when he was
made chaplain to sir Charles Hedges, secretary of «tate;
he was shortly after appointed to a similar office in
the household of archbishop Tenison, and was preferred
to the rectory of St. Olave's, Southwark, and to the arch-
deaconry of Surrey. In 1719 he accompanied king
George I. to Hanover, in the capacity of chaplain ; he
was also tutor to prince Frederic, and drew up "a
flet of instructions" for his royal pupil. With his con-
duct the king was so much pleased, that he made him
dean of Christ Church and bishop of Bristol, to which see
he was consecrated November 1719. He presided over it
with great ability for about four vears and a half, but

4 BOULTER.

whilst he was engaged in visiting his diocese, he received
a letter informing him that the king had nominated him
to the primacy of Ireland, vacant by the death of Dr. Lind-
say. He was for some time very unwilling to accept this
high but responsible ofiSce ; the king, however, would
hear of no denial, and the archbishop accordingly arrived
in Ireland, Novembers, 1724. As soon as he had taken
possession of the primacy, he began to consider that coun-
try, in which his lot was cast for life, as his own ; and to
promote its true interest with the greatest zeal and assi-
duity. He often said " he would do all the good to Ireland
he could, though they did not suffer him to do all he
would."

The scarcity of silver coin in Ireland was excessively
great, occasioned by reducing the value of gold coin in Eng-
land, and the balance of trade which lay against the Irish.
To remedy this inconvenience, the primate supported a
scheme at the council table, to bring gold and silver nearer
to a par in value, by lowering that of the former, which
was carried into execution. The populace, encouraged by
some dealers in exchange, who were the only losers by
the alteration, grew clamorous, and laid the ruin of their
country (as they called it) at the primate's door. But
conscious of his own integrity, he despised the foolish
noise : experience evinced the utility of the project, the
people in a short time recovered their senses, and he soon
rose to the greatest height of popularity.

In the year 1729, there was a great scarcity, the poor
were reduced to a miserable condition, and the nation was
threatened with famine and pestilence. The primate dis-
tributed vast quantities of grain through several parts of
the kingdom ; directed all the vagrant poor that crowded
the streets of Dublin, to be received into the poor-house,
and there maintained them at his private expense, until
the following harvest brought relief.

In the latter end of the year 1740, and the beginning of
1741, Ireland was again afflicted with a great scarcity.
The prelate's charity was again extended, though with more

BOULTER. 5

regularity than before. The poor were fed in the work-
house twice every day, according to tickets given out by
persons entrusted, the number of which amounted to
732,314. And it appeared that 2,500 souls were fed
there every morning and evening, mostly at the primate's
expense.

When the scheme for opening a navigation by a canal
from Lough-Neagh to Newry, w^as proposed in parliament,
in the year 1729, the primate patronized it with all his
interest ; and when the bill was passed, and the work set
about, was veiy instrumental in carrying it on with effect.
One part of the design was to bring coals from thence to
Dublin, and the coal mines were in the see-lands of
Armagh, which were then leased out to a tenant. The pri-
mate fearing the lessee might be exorbitant in his demands,
purchased the lease at a great expense, in order to accom-
modate the public. He also gave timber out of his woods
to carry on the work ; and often advanced his own money,
without interest, for the same purpose.

He gave and settled a competent stipend on an assistant
curate at Drogheda, a large and populous town in his dio-
cese ; where the cure was too burthensome for one clergy-
man, and the revenues of the church were not sufiScient
to maintain two. He stipulated that there should not
only be service every Sunday afternoon, but that there
should be daily service ; prayers twice every day.

He maintained several sons of his poor clergy at the
university, and gave them a liberal education, in order to
qualify them for future preferment.

He erected and endowed hospitals both at Drogheda
and Armagh, for the reception of clergymen's widows ;
and settled a fund for putting out their children ap-
prentices.

. He built a stately market house at Armagh, at the ex-
pense of upwards of £800.

He subscribed £50 per ann. to Dr. Stevens's hospital in
Dublin, for the maintenance and care of the poor; and
A 2

6 BOULTER.

furnished one of the wards for the reception of patients at
a considerable expense.

His charities, for augmenting small livings, and buying
of glebes, amounted to upwards of £30,000 besides what
he devised by his will for the like purposes in England.
He was also a benefactor to Christ Church, Oxford, and
to Magdalene College.

He was chiefly instrumental in obtaining a royal
charter for the Irish schools, and for the passing of the
charter he paid all the fees. He was not only a large
subscriber to them, but was their resource on all occasions
when, as was frequently the case, they became involved
in pecuniary difficulties.

He was likewise an able assistant at the council table,
and was several times one of the lords justices of Ireland ;
in fact, the government of that country was, at one time,
very much directed by him. Having business in Lon-
don, in 1742, he was taken ill there, and after a struggle
of two days, died at his house in St James'-place, on
September •21ih, and was buried in Westminster abbey,
where a handsome monument has been erected to his
memory.

This generous prelate, whose munificence endeared
him to the church of Ireland, is not distinguished as an
author : he published a few charges to his clergy, and
some occasional sermons, printed separately. In 1769,
however, were published, at Oxford, in two volumes 8vo,
" Letters written by his excellency Hugh Boulter, D.D.,
lord primate of all Ireland, &c., to several ministers of
state in England, and some others ; containing an account
of the most interesting transactions which passed in Ire-
land from 1724 to 1738." The originals, which are de-
posited in the library of Christ Church, in Oxford, were
collected by Ambrose Philips, esq., who \vas secretary to his
grace, and lived in his house during that space of time in
which they bear date. They are entirely letters of busi-
ness, and are all of them in Dr. Boulter's hand- writing,
excepting some few, which are fair copies by his secretary.

BOURCHIER. 7

The editor justly remarks, that these letters, which could
not be intended for publication, have been fortunately
preserved, as they contain the most authentic history of
Ireland, for the period in which they were written : "a
period," he adds, " which will ever do honour to his
grace's memory, and to those most excellent princes
George the first and second, who had the wisdom to place
confidence in so worthy, so able, and so successful a
minister ; a minister who had the rare and peculiar feli-
city of growing still more and more into the favour both
of the king and of the people, until the very last day of
his life." It is much to he regretted that in some of his
measures, he was opposed by dean Swift, particularly in
that of diminishing the gold coin, as it is probable that
they both were actuated by an earnest desire of serving
the country. In one affair, that of Wood s halfpence,
they appear to have coincided, and in that they both hap-
pened to encourage a public clamour which had little
solid foundation — Memoirs communicated by one who was
most intimate idth archbishop Boulter to the original editor
of the Biog. Brit. Preface to his Letters.

BOURCHIEE, BOWSCHYRE, OR BOWCER, THOMAS.

Thomas Bourchier was the son of sir WiUiam Bourchier,
earl of Eu in Normandy. He was educated at Neville's
Inn, Oxford, and when he left the university was appointed
dean of St. Martin's, London. At this time the usurpa-
tions of the bishop of Rome had become almost in-
tolerable, and his aggressions on our venerable establish-
ment were by our ancestors frequently, though not always
successfully, opposed. In 1434 Thomas Polton, bishop
of Worcester, died, and by one of those worst of papal
abuses, a provision, the pope of Rome, Eugenius, then
sitting at the council of Basil, took it upon himself to
confer the see upon Thomas Browns, dean of Salisbury,
and he sent letters to the king to that effect, desiring his
approbation of the appointment. The king, so far from

8 BOURCHIER.

approving, caused letters to be addressed to Thomas
Browns requiring him to renounce the provision, and
informing him, that unless he would comply, he should
not only not have the see of Worcester, but that he should
never hold any bishopric in England. The king also
•wrote to the pope, refusing his consent to the provision.
So far the liberties of our beloved church were maintained
against popish usurpations, but, as was too often the case,
there was in the end a compromise, by which the king
carried his immediate object, while the pope did not
renounce his usurped right. Browns was made bishop of
Rochester, and Bourchier was consecrated to the see of
Worcester. He had only been bishop of Worcester a year
when he was elected by the monks of Ely to that see ;
translations being unfortunately common in our establish-
ment at that time. To the translation of Bourchier, how-
ever, the king refused to give his consent, and the see of
Ely remained vacant for seven or eight years ; so that
Bourchier was not translated till the 20th of December,
1443. Here he remained for ten years, and according to
the author of the Historia Eliensis, was not distinguished
for his good government or piety ; though the charges
brought against him may be suspected of being without
foundation, seeing that he was elected by the monks of
Canterbury to the metropolitan see, as the successor of
Dr. Kemp, on the 23rd of April, 1454. The election was
entirely free, neither the king, or that foreign potentate,
the pope, attempting to interfere, or bias the chapter in
their choice. It is not probable that they would have
elected a prelate who was never connected with their body,
unless they had been persuaded that he was not the op-
pressor which, by the monks of Ely, he was represented
to be.

The approbation of the pope of Rome was signified by
his appointing archbishop Bourchier to be a cardinal in
the Roman church ; he was elected cardinal priest of St.
Cyriacus in Thermis. The king, too, signified his ap-
proval by making the archbishop lord high chancellor of

BOURCHIER. 9

England, an office which he resigned the October fol-
lowing.

Soon after his enthronization he commenced a visitation
in Kent, and made several regulations for the government
of his diocese. To mention some of his provisions : —

First : He decreed, " That those religious who threw off
the habit of the cloister, and entered upon parochial cures,
should lose their benefices, and be punished as revolters
from their order."

Secondly : " That church livings should not be let to
farm without the bishop's leave."

Thirdly : "That marriages and last wills should not be
made without two witnesses at the least." He likewise
passed several other constitutions for the reformation of
the clergy and laity, and ordered them to be published at
St. Paul's Cross.

As for learning and religion, they were but, generally
speaking, in a state of declension : for, as an author
who lived at this time complains, "A right discharge
of the functions of a parish priest was almost grown
into disuse, and made impracticable. That this mischief
was occasioned by non-residence, by promoting unworthy
persons, by excessive allowance of pluralities, by grant-
ing university degrees to persons who had neither morals,
nor any other circumstance of merit to recommend them."
This writer, who was sometime chancellor of Oxford, com-
plains of the government of that university, " that degrees
were purchased without any regard to life or learning :
that this connivance and bribery in the university over-
spread the country with ignorance, and made the parishes
ill supplied." He goes on and declaims against the relax-
ation of discipline in the court of Rome ; and reports,
that pope Calixtus III. brought a very ill precedent into
the church of England in favour of a young person of
quality." It seems this pope had given a dispensation to
George Neville, brother to the great earl of Warwick, to
be elected bishop of Exeter, and receive the profits of that
see, notwithstanding he was no more than three and

10 BOURCHiER.

twenty years old, and was not capable of being consecrated
till four years after. Notwithstanding this disability, his
holiness furnished him with a bull, not only to receive the
profits, but likewise to hold those other church prefer-
ments he was possessed of before.

In the year 1454 archbishop Bourchier published a
letter for processions, which is here presented to the
reader, who will see from the perusal of it how many
popish abuses had at this period crept into our beloved
church, and how much our excellent establishment re-
quired the reformation which was now approaching.

" Thomas by Divine permission archbishop of Canter-
bury, primate of A. E., legate of the apostolical see, to
our venerable brother Thomas by the grace of God bishop
of London, health, and a continual increase of brotherly
love. [Here is omitted a ivhole page, which is only a pre-
fatory narrative of the occasion of these letters, and which
is sufficiently, though briefly, expressed in what folloxcs.]
That this our happy expedition against the [Turks]
persecutors of our orthodox faith now begun, and the
health, and condition of the most Christian prince our
lord the king, and of the commonweal of this kingdom
may daily be improved, and the sooner brought to perfec-
tion, and those internal evils may be happily composed
by the inspiration of divine grace, we have decreed that
certain solemn processions be for one year celebrated
within our province of Canterbury in the cathedral,
regular, collegiate, and other churches. Therefore we
give it in charge, and command you our brother, that ye do
enjoin all and singular our brethren, and fellow-bishops,
the sufi'ragans of our church of Canterbury, in our stead,
and by our authority, and with all speed by your letters
containing a copy of these, that they do admonish, and
persuade, or cause to be admonished and persuaded, all
their subjects, both clerks, and laics in their cathedral,
conventual, and collegiate churches (whether regular, or
secular ;) and also in the parish churches of their cities
and dioceses on the Lord's days and festivals, that the;^

BOURCHIER 11

celebrate processions in a most devout, affectionate, and
solemn manner, and sing or say the litanies with other
suffrages that are seasonable and acceptable to God, as
well on those Lord's-dajs and Festivals, as on every
Wednesday and Friday, with all humility of heart, for
the driving away and removing far from the bounds of
the Christian world, the wicked powers of them that are
enemies to the Christian orthodox faith, and its pro-
fessors, and for the total extinguishing and (may God so
please) the exterminating of them ; and for the restoring
and perfecting tlie welfare of our lord the king, and this
famous kingdom of England, and for the daily increase
and improvement of their prosperity ; and for the averting
and dispelling, removing and avoiding with all possible
speed those difficulties and dangers now imminent on the
king, and kingdom, and those evils from abroad with
which we are beset and encompassed ; and that they do
farther exhort the i)eople subject to them, that they do by
day and night, at their convenient leisure, continue in-
stant in their prayers with all humility of heart, for the
averting these evils from us, and from the whole Christian
world. And do ye, dear brother, cause the same to be
done in your city and diocese by those who belong to you,
in an humble devout manner on the like days, times
and places. And that they may be excited to these works
of devotion with the greater frequency and zeal, we of the
immense mercy of God, and confiding in the merits and
prayers of the most blessed Virgin Mary, his mother, and
of the blessed Peter and Paul, his apostles, and of saints
Alphege and Thomas, martyrs, our patrons, and of all the
saints, do graciously grant forty days indulgence by these
presents, to all and every one of our subjects who repents
of his sins, and confesses them with contrition, and is
present on any Wednesday or Friday within the said
year at the making of such procession, as is aforesaid, and
intercedes with devout prayers to God for the premises,
or that fasts on the days aforesaid, or on any day within
the same year ; or that says mass, or seven psalms with

12 BOURCHIER.

the litany, or a nocturnal of David's psalter, or the psalter
of the blessed Virgin Mary, so called, or that goes in pil-
grimage to any place, commonly resorted to for such pur-
poses, or gives any thing in alms, out of reverence to God,
or his saints, and that duly confesses his sins in order to
his ofifering these sacrifices in a more acceptable manner
to God, for as often as they perform any of the premises.
And we request you, and your brethren that ye grant
such indulgences to your and their subjects doing as
aforesaid, as are wont to be granted Dated in our manor
of Croydon on the 19th day of January, in the year of our
Lord 1454, and of our translation the first."

In those days bishops were not so despotic as they now
are, and therefore surprise has been expressed that the
archbishop in this case did not consult his convocation ;
but it is to be observed that he did not intend his letter
to be a binding or peremptory decree, but only an earnest
admonition ; and when in the year following, as Johnson
observes, " he sent his monition to all rectors, vicars,
curates, and their substitutes throughout his diocese and
province, and particularly to all such as should minister
the word of God to the clergy and people at St. Paul's Cross,
London, to advertise all people that testaments should not
be made, or matrimony contracted without two or three
witnesses, and that one of the witnesses to the will be a
parish priest, or the proper curate, if it may conveDiently
be, he had no occasion to take the advice of his convoca-
tion in this case, because what he required was no more
than what the canon law demanded."

In 1416 the prelates of our church had made provision
for their Festa Repentina, occasional thanksgivings with-
out composing new ofiBces ; in the letter of archbishop
Bourchier we may observ^e how they ordered matters in
case of extraordinary humiliation ; they drew up no new
offices, but only required some old forms to be more
frequently used: they did not think their authority
sufficient absolutely to enjoin the use of these forms, but
only granted indulgences to those who comphed. The

BOURCHIER 13

convocation indeed in 1416 did peremptorily require all
to use the old forms in a new manner ; but the arch-
bishop acting bj himself did not venture to go so far.
Tirls fact, pointed out by Johnson in the Collection of
Ecclesiastical Laws, &c., is especially worthy of note in
the present age, when individual bishops arrogate to
themselves, too often, the power which pertains only to
convocation. As to the provision for occasional services,
it is arranged better in the church of England subse-
quently to the Reformation than what it was before. Every
Friday is an established fast, and the commination ser-
vice may be used whenever the ordinaiy appoints ; and
this with the prayer on the occasion, whatever it may be,
which may be added out of the forms next after the
litany, prescribed to be used before the two final prayers
at matins and even-song, would make a better ofiBce than
any of those modern compilations which have been some-
times enjoined by very questionable authority. What is
said of fast-day services is equally applicable to thanks-
givings.

As for the indulgences alluded to in archbishop Bour-
cliier's letter, the learned editor, referred to before, very
justly remarks that they were among " the most stupid
inventions that were ever set on foot by the court of
Rome: and the inventors themselves could never explain
the meaning of them : for they ever declared, that neither
the pope, nor Christ Jesus Himself did ever give hopes of
reprobates being freed from hell-torments. They tell us it
was only a relaxation of the temporal punishment due for
sin, and which is to be paid either by penance here, or in
purgatory hereafter. And this might in some measure clear
the matter as to the bishop's indulgence, which was but
for thirty day^ at most, and as to the archbishop "s, which
was but for fifty days at most. But when the pope by the
pretended plenitude of power extended his indulgences to
thousands of years, this can never be resolved into a
relaxation of penance, unless it could be supposed that a

VOL. Ill, B

\i BOURCHIER.

man could sin or do penance for so many years. After
all, their best casuists advise people to do their penance,
notwithstanding these indulgences, which is to say, that
they would have none to rely on them."

Among the grievances of the age was the decay of
learning in our two great universities, especially in the
university of Oxford. The reason of this declension is sup-
posed to have proceeded from the withdrawing the usual
salaries and exhibitions, and by overlooking the members
of the university in the disposal of church preferments.
Farther, this decay of learning is partly resolved into the
great number of impropriations to monasteries. Religious
houses had for some time made it their business to draw
parochial cures within their property and patronage.
They were sometimes so fond of this privilege as to settle
an annuity or part with a manor to the laity for an im-
propriation. They found an advantage in converting the
profits of livings to the use of the convent : for, by having
the revenues thus augmented, they were in a better con-
dition to support emergent exjDenses, and purchase liber-
ties and exemptions. Thus the abbey of St. Edmondsbury
in Suffolk, in Cratfield's time, procured a license from the
pope to choose their abbot without consulting the see of
Rome : and, in consideration of this favour, they obliged
themselves to pay a rent-charge of twenty pounds per
annum to the pope ; and twenty marks a year into the
exchequer to redeem their abbey-lands from being seized
into the kings hands upon every vacancy. To support
this charge, they procured two parishes to be appropriated
to their monastery, notwithstanding they were already
possessed of more than threescore under the same circum-
stances. And of this kind, there might be several other
instances given.

And thus, by perverting the design of the endowment
of churches, and robbing the parochial clergy of their
patrimony, religion and learning suffered very much : for
the monasteries being frequently over-solicitous for their

BOURCHIER. 15

interest, used to afford a very slender consideration to
those who supplied the cures : and thus the parishes were
put into the hands of ignorant incumbents. This mis-
fortune gave occasion to frequent contests and vexatious
suits among the parishioners ; whereas formerly, when
the parish priests were men of learning and character,
these differences were taken up, and decided by them. But
now, such disputes falling into the hands of lawyers, —
who, when not men of conscience, made it their business
to perplex and prolong the controversy, — the countiy was
more than ever embroiled : and, being in a great measure
exhausted by law-suits, they were disabled for pious uses
and benefactions to learning.

Besides, the exhibitions to the universities, as has been
observed, were in a great measure withdrawn. The reason
of the failing of this fund, which was mostly furnished by
the bishops, was this: the prelates in this reign, by
spending too much of their time at court, and making too
great a figure there, disabled themselves from assisting
men of learning, and neither gave the customary enter-
tainment to scholars in their houses, nor supplied them
at the universities.

And here Gascoigne, above-mentioned, observes, " that
before the reign of Henry VI. the kings of England never
detained any bishop at their courts, unless for a short
time ; neither had they any of that order for their con-
fessors. And when the director of their conscience, who
was generally a doctor in divinity, happened to be elected
to any bishopric, he immediately quitted his office, and
went down to his see ; and while things were thus
managed, doctors were men of great learning and esteem,
and had the precedency of archdeacons, deans, and
knights."

The avarice and extravagant partialities of the court of
Rome, were another occasion of the declensions in the
Church and universities. For if men brought money and
strong recommendations, that court frequently overlooked
the considerations of probity and merit.

16 BOURCHIER.

The weight of these grievances put the university of Ox-
ford upon addressing the archbishop of Canterbury to step
in to th^ir relief, to give check to the excesses of papal
provisions. The archbishop undertook the business, and
made a synodical constitution, that for the future, no
person should be admitted to holy orders without a testi-
monial from the archdeacon of the place, or the chancellor
of the university, or his deputy. This expedient, though
it gave some hopes of reformation at first, proved insigni-
ficant, by the mercenariness of the bishop's officers, who
seldom would wait for any testimonials of this kind.

The following are the constitutions of archbishop Bour-
chier, published in 1463, which are here given as throw-
ing light upon the state of the church in the fifteenth
century.

" The constitutions of Thomas Bourchier, archbishop of
Canterbury, primate of A. E., legate of the apostolical
see, made in the cathedral church of St. Pauls, London,
the prelates and clergy of the province of Canterbury
being then and there convocated, on the sixth day of July,
1463.

1. Although the disposal of all churches, and of the
rights, persons, and things thereunto belonging, and also
of the goods in pious places is known by the testimony of
the sacred canons to belong to the bishops, and holiness
becomes God s house, and jDcaceableness (with due venera-
tion of Him, by whose peace it was made a place of
Divine worship) that no disturbance of the minds of
Christians, or execution of the secular law be in the
church ; yet the impudence, or rather rashness of some
secular officers in the province of Canterbury, forgetful of
their own salvation, is grown so abusive to the church, that
sheriffs, under-sheriffs, bailififs, Serjeants, beadles, and at-
tendants, by themselves, and their deputies do compel
persons of both sexes staying in churches and church-
yards and other places, as is said, dedicated to God (per-
chance) to attend on prayer, to be arrested and violently
torn from thence with the disturbance of divine worship ;

BOURCHIER. IT

sometimes with fightiDg, and the pollution of the churches
under colour of executing a secular office, by means unfit
to be used in churches, to the scandal and detriment of
the churches, and the hazard of their own souls, and the
pernicious example of others. Now we Thomas by divine
permission archbishop of Canterbury, desiring as we are
bound, to apply a remedy against such abuses to such as
have reprobated the law of God and His holy church, and
lest we should seem to approve of it, do by authority of
this present provincial council ordain, and prohibit any
secular ofl&cer by what name soever called, to arrest in any
civil or pecuniary action, or to force out of a church or any
sacred place, and particularly the church of St. Pauls,
London, (especially while divine semce is there celebra-
ted) any man, or woman under pain of excommunication.
And if any sheriff, under-sheriff, mayor, bailiff, seijeant,
beadle, attendant, or other secular officer, under whatever
name he passes, be a rash violator of this our statute, or
give authority, help or consent to such violation, we will
that he do ipso facto incur the sentence of the greater
excommunication, not to be absolved from the same, till
they have made competent satisfaction to the persons and
churches injured. And we make a special reservation of
their absolution to the diocesans of the places. And we
will that they be bound in the same sentence, who lay
violent hands even on a layman in churches, or other
consecrated places.

•2. Although in this catholic and glorious kingdom of
England the preachers of the word of God have sufficiently
considered and declaimed against the new ill-contrived
fashions of apparel of the clergy and people for several
years, by reproof, reprehension, and entreaty, according to
the apostle "s doctrine ; yet few or none desist from these
abuses, which is much to be lamented. It is fit then that
they who are not reclaimed by divine love be restrained
by fear of punishment. And if we who by divine permis-
sion are set over others to reform them, neglect to reform
b2

18 BOURCHIER.

[S

ourselves and clergy, we fear, lest the people subject to us
observing that our lives and manners differ from our ser-
mons, do thence take occasion to distrust our words, and
so be prompted, which God avert, to contemn the church
of Christ, and His ministers, and their sound doctrine
and authority. Desiring therefore to apply a remedy to
this evil, so far as God enables us, that we may not be to
answer for it at the last day, we do by our metropolitical
authority, with the unanimous assent and consent of our
venerable brethren the lords the bishops, and of the whole
clergy of the province of Canterbury, by a decree of this
present provincial council, enact and ordain that no priest,
or clerk in holy orders, or beneficed, do publicly wear any
gown or upper garment, but what is close before, and not
wholly open, nor any bordering of skins or furs in the
lower edges or circumference : and that no one who is
not graduated in some university, or possessed of some
ecclesiastical dignity, do wear a cap with a cape, nor a
double cap, nor a single one with a cornet, or a short hood
after the manner of prelates and graduates (excepting only
the priests and clerks in the service of our lord the king)
or gold, or any thing gilt on their girdle, sword, dagger,
or purse. And let none of the abovesaid, nor any domes-
tics of an archbishop, bishop, abbot, prior, dean, arch-
deacon, or of any ecclesiastical man who serves them for
stipends, or wages, and especially they who serve in a
spiritual office, wear ill-contrived garments scandalous to
the church, nor bolsters about their shoulders in their
doublet, coat, or gown, nor an upper garment so short as
not to cover their middle parts, nor shoes monstrously
long and turoed up at the toes, nor any such sort of gar-
ments. If any transgressor of this statute and ordinance
be discovered after a month from the publication thereof,
let him be wholly deprived of the perception of the profits
of his ecclesiastical benefice, if he have any : if he have
none let him be wholly deprived of his office or service,
whether he be clerk or laic, till he reform himself. And

BOURCHIER. 19

let the lord or master, who retains such an uiireformed'
transgressor, or receives him again anew, take upon his
own conscience the burden and peril before the supreme
judge. And because we ourselves are disposed to use all
diligence toward the observance of this constitution in our
own person, as God shall give us His grace, we do in the
Lord exhort all our venerable the lords the bishops, and
other inferior ecclesiastical persons, we admonish all and
singular persons subject to us in virtue of strict obedience,
in the same Lord, that they so behave themselves in
this respect as may be to the praise of Almighty God, and
for the avoiding scandal to His church ; that we may not
hereafter be forced to aggravate the penalties of this
constitution."

It would appear from these constitutions that the clergy
wore swords, and we find in other contemporary docu-
ments that it was occasionally necessary to warn the
clergy against the adoption of military habits.

It is curious to observe that some of the extraordinary pri-
vileges which the university of Oxford at this time asserts,
are to be traced to papal favour ; that in fact their right to
suspend an ecclesiastic from preaching is a right obtained
from the pope, and that the exercise of it is proof, not of
an Anglican, but of a popish spirit. In the year 1476,
according to the statement of Collier, the pope, at the
instance of the university of Oxford , granted that learned
body a bull of pri\ilege dated the 13th of September.
The reason why the university solicited this favour, was,
because their former exemptions procured from the see
of Rome were either lost or revoked ; particularly the
famous grant of pope Boniface VIII. had been cancelled.
This instrument of Sixtus IV. takes notice, that it was set
forth in the bull of Boniface, that several kings of England,
of famous memory, had granted this privilege, amongst
others, to the university of Oxford ; " That, for the greater
convenience and ease of the students, their chancellor for
the time being should have the cognizance and correction
of all contracts, trespasses, and misdemeanours, within the

20 BOURCHIEH.

precincts.of the university, where one of the parties was
either a scholar, a servant to any of that body, or other-
wise belonging to the jurisdiction of the chancellor ; and
that no person, under the circumstances and distinctions
above-mentioned, should, by virtue of the king's writs, be
forced to make their appearance, or take their trial in any
foreign court, unless in prosecutions for murder, mayhem,
or pleas concerning freehold : and that the masters,
doctors, and scholars, had peaceably enjoyed this royal
privilege long beyond the memory of man.' The bull of
Boniface proceeds to recite, "that the university requested
an extent of privilege with respect to the church, and that
their body might be exempted from the jurisdiction of all
archbishops, bishops, and other ordinaries whatsoever ;
and that the chancellor should be empowered to decide all
emergent differences, and punish all trespasses and crimes
above-mentioned, with a liberty of exercising all manner
of spiritual authority upon the university members : and
that all suspensions, excommunications, or interdicts,
denounced and published against the said chancellor,
scholars, &c., should be void, and of none effect." This
bull of Boniface is revived by Sixtus IV., and all the fran-
chises granted by the kings of England confirmed.

In the reign of Edward V., Richard, duke of Gloucester,
continued to make archbishop Bourchier an instrument
of promoting his own ambitious designs. It was by his
graces persuasion that the queen dowager consented
to deliver up the duke of York into the hands of the
protector. But the archbishop has never been accused of
acting from any sinister motive, and his whole conduct
shews that he had full confidence at the time in Richards
sincerity. The last public act of archbishop Bourchier,
was to solemnize the marriage between Henry VII. and
Elizabeth of York, and thus, as Dr. Fuller observes, " his
hand first held the sweet posie whereby the white and red
roses were tied together." He died in 1486, at Knowle,
then an archiepiscopal residence, and was buried on the
north side of the choir of his cathedral. His chief public

BOURDALOUE. Ql

benefaction was the gift of £120 to the university of Cam-
bridge ; this sum was laid up with another hundred
pounds, given by Mr. Billingsforth, formerly master of
Corpus Christi College, and the chest was called Billings-
forth and Buurchier's chest : the money in the chest was
to be lent, as occasion required, to poor scholars.

Though Bourchier was undoubtedly a man of learning,
no writings of his have descended to us, except a few
synodical decrees ; but he deserves especial mention as
being the first who introduced the art of printing into
this country. The art had for some time been practised
on the continent, but the greatest secrecy was observed
respecting the manner in which the operation was con-
ducted. The archbishop therefore persuaded Henry VI.
to send Tournour and Caxton abroad in the guise of
merchants, (which Caxton was,) to possess themselves, if
possible, of this important secret, which with some diffi-
culty they accomplished, having persuaded one of the
compositors, Frederick Corselli, to carry off a set of types,
and go over with them to England. Upon their arrival,
the archbishop, thinking Oxford a more convenient place
for printing than London, sent Corselli thither ; and
lest he should escape before he discovered the whole
secret, a guard was set upon the press Thus the art of
printing appeared ten years sooner at this university
than in any other place in Europe, Harlaem and Mentz
excepted. Not long after, presses were set up at West-
minster, St Alban"s, Worcester, and other monasteries

of note. Godwin. SjJelmcm. Johnson. Collier. Wood.

Wharton.

BOUEDALOUE, LEWIS.

Lewis Bouedaloue was born at Bourges, August 20th,
1682, and became a Jesuit at fifteen. His talent for preach-
ing made him so popular in the country, that his superiors
called him to Paris in 1669, to take the course in their
church of St. Louis, which soon became crowded with

23 BOURN.

hearers of the highest distinction, and Louis XIV. fre-
quently listened with attention and pleasure to this
powerful preacher, though he manfully spoke home truths
to the monarch and his court. He was sent into Lan-
guedoc to convert the protestants, and it is said that he
had considerable success in this mission. In his own
communion, however, the effects of his ministry was very
great, and numbers chose him for their confessor. His
piety appears to have been truly sincere, and he had a
very liberal disposition towards those from whom he dif-
fered. He died in 1704.

Bretonneau, who was also a Jesuit, published two
editions of his works, one in 14 vols, 8vo, Paris, in 1707
and following years, and another in 15 vols, l'2mo. The
former has the preference. — Moreri. Biog : GalUca. Works.

BOURN, GILBERT.

Gilbert Bourn, was the son of Philip Bourn, of
Worcestershire, and was matriculated at Oxford in 15-^4.
He was elected fellow of All Souls in 1531. He bore
a high character as a logician and rhetorician in the
university, in which he took his M.A. degree in 153-^.
The chapter of Worcester was new modeled under
Henry the Vlllth, the regulars being dispossessed, and
secular clergy under a dean being appointed. Bourn
was one of the first of the new prebendaries, being
appointed in 1541. In the year 1543 he took his B.I),
degree and became chaplain to the bishop of London,
(Dr. Bonner,) by whom he was collated to the prebend
of Wildland in St Pauls cathedral in 1545 ; a prebend
which he exchanged for that of Brownswood in 1548.
He appears, like his patron, to have been attached at first
to the reforming party in our church, and thus he was
preferred, in 154V), to the archdeaconry of Bedford, and
soon after to the rectory of High Ongar in Essex.

There were many things which must have prepared the
mind of Bourn to change his party when an opportunity

BOURN. %^

occurred. He was a mild and perhaps an indolent man,
and by the excesses to which the reformers of Edward VI.
had proceeded, his conservative feelings both in church
and state must have been alarmed. Moreover, his personal
feelings must have been shocked by the treatment which
his patron, the bishop of London, had experienced. What-
ever state necessity there may have been for the proceed-
ings against the bishop, they must have appeared to his
friends unjust and arbitrary. See Life of Bonner. We are
not to be surprised at finding Bourn attaching himself to
the Romanizing party in our church, when at the accession
of Mary the Romanists came into power. He took the
earliest opportunity of declaring his adhesion to the new
government, and at the same time to shew his gratitude to
his former patron, the atrocity of whose character had not
yet developed itself. He calculated, however, wrongly on
the state of public opinion. He evidently supposed that
the alarm felt at the excesses and ultra-protestantism of
Edward's reformers had entirely pervaded the masses in
London as elsewhere. He found that he was mistaken
when he delivered the sermon, which from its conse-
quences alone, has procured for him a place in history.
He was appointed to preach at St Paul's Cross, August 13,
1553, in the presence of the coi'poration of London, several
of the nobility, and his old patron, bishop Bonner. He
took for his text the passage on which that prelate had
discoursed from the same place four years before, warmly
eulogized him, adverted to the hardships that he had
recently undergone, and attacked severely king Edward's
religious policy. As he proceeded, murmurs arose, women
and boys became violently excited, and even some clergy-
men of the reforming party who were present, encouraged
the general disgust. At length, caps were thrown into
the air, stones were levelled at the preacher, and some
fiery zealot completed the disgrace of the protestant party,
by hurling a dagger at the indiscreet author of so much
confusion. Bourn escaped martyrdom by stooping down,
and his brother besought Bradford, eventually a martyr,

'24 BOURNE.

to appease, if possible, the people's fury. The call be-
ing readily obeyed, a mild rebuke from one so well
known, and so deservedly respected, soon quelled the
spirit of outrage. The obnoxious preacher was then con-
ducted between Bradford and Rogers, afterwards martyrs
in the Marian persecution, into St Pauls school, where
he remained until the crowd dispersed. — See Life of
Bradford.

Bourn was afterwards one of the delegates appointed to
restore bishop Bonner to the see of London. It is dis-
graceful to Bourn that when Bradford was brought into
trouble, he did not interfere to protect him. He was
present on one of the days of Bradford's trial, but he said
not a single word in his behalf, though the expressive
silence with which be received Bradford's appeal to him,
forced Gardiner to abandon the charge of sedition brought
against him. Bourn was elected bishop of Bath and Wells,
March 28th, 1554, and he continued in great favour
throughout queen Mary's reign, being appointed president
of Wales. Under Elizabeth, he was deprived for deny-
ing the royal supremacy. Being then committed to the
free custody of the dean of Exeter, he gave himself
entirely up to reading and devotion. He died at Silver-
ton, in Devonshire, September 10th, 1569. — Wood. Fox.
Strype's Memorials.

BOURNE, IMMANUEL.

Immanuel Bourne was born in Northamptonshire,
December 27th, 1590, and entered at Christ Church, Ox-
ford, in 1667. He took his M.A. degree in 1616. In 1622
he was appointed to the rectory of Ashover in Derbyshire,
and was noted as a puritan. When the rebellion broke out
he sided with the rebels and became a presbyterian. He
became a popular preacher at St. Sepulchre's, and in 1656
was intruded into the living of Waltham in Leicestershire.
The popular puritan became a conformist at the restora-
tion, and in 1669 was instituted to the rectorv of Ailston

BOYS. 25

in Leicestershire. He died on the 27th of December,
1672. He published, besides some occasional sermons,
A Light from Christ, leading unto Christ by the Star of
His word ; or, a Divine Directory for Self-Examination
and Preparation for the Lord's Supper, 1645 ; Defence of
Scriptures as the Chief Judge of Controversies, 1656 ;
Vindication of the Honour due to Magistrates, Ministers,
and others, against the Quakers, 1659 ; Defence of Tjthes,
Infant Baptism, Human Learning, and the Sword of the
Magistrate, against the Anabaptists ; A Golden Chain of
Directions to preserve Love between Husband and Wife,
1^2.— Wood's Ath.

BOYS, OR BOIS, JOHN,

JOHN BOIS was born at Nettlestead, in Suffolk, on the
5th January, 1560. So precocious were the talents of the
child, that at the age of five years he read the Bible in
Hebrew. He went afterwards to Hadley school, and at
fourteen was admitted at St. John's College, Cambridge,
where he distinguished himself by his skill in the Greek.
Happening to have the small pox when he was elected
fellow, he, to preserve his seniority, caused himself to be
carried, wrapped up in blankets, to be admitted. He
applied himself for some time to the study of medicine,
but fancying himself affected with every disease he read
of, he quitted that science, determining to enter into tlie
ministry; on the ^Ist of June, 1583, he was ordained
deacon, and next day, by virtue of a dispensation, priest.
He was ten years chief Greek lecturer in his college, and
read e^ery day. He voluntarily read a Greek lecture for
some years, at four in the morning, in his own chamber,
which v^'as frequented by many of the fellows. On the
death of his father, he succeeded him in the rectory of
West-Stowe ; but his mother going to live with her brother,
he resigned that preferment, though he might have kept
it with his fellowship. At the age of thirty-six, he married

VOL. TII. C

26 BOYS.

the daughter of Mr. Hoh, rector of Boxworth, in Cam-
bridgeshire, whom he succeeded in that living October the
loth, 1.596. On his quitting the university, the college
gave him one hundred pounds. His young wife, who was
bequeathed to him with the living, which was an advowson,
proving a bad economist, and he himself being wholly
addicted to his studies, he soon became so much involved
in debt, that he was forced to sell his choice collection of
books, containing almost every Greek author then extant,
to a loss as great as the sum to which the debt paid by its
produce amounted. The loss of his library afflicted him
so much, that he had thought of quitting his native coun-
try. He was however soon reconciled to his wife, and he
even continued to leave all domestic affairs to her manage-
ment. He entered into an agreement with twelve of the
neighbouring clergy, to meet every Friday at one of their
houses by turns, to give an account of their studies. He
usually kept some young scholar in his house, to instruct
his own children, and the poorer sort of the town, as well
as several gentlemen's children, who were boarded with
him. When a new translation of the Bible was, by king
James I., directed to be made, Mr. Bois was elected one
of the Cambridge translators. He performed not only his
own, but also the part assigned to another, whose name
has not transpired, with great reputation, though with no
profit, for he had no allowance but his commons. He
was indeed to have been one of the fellows of the new
college at Chelsea, which it was then in contemplation to
found, but as the project died away, he was disappointed.
He was not only a translator of the Bible, but also one of
the six who met at Stationers' Hall to revise the whole ;
which task they went through in nine months, having
each from the company of stationers during that time
thirty shillings a week. He afterwards assisted Sir Henry
Savile, in publishing the works of St. Chrysostom. A
present of a single copy of the book was the whole reward
of many years' labour spent upon it. This disappointment

BOYS. f^7

was owing to the death of Sir Henry Savile, who intended
to have made him fellow of Eton. In 1615, Dr. Lancelot
Andre wes, bishop of Ely, bestowed on him, unasked, a pre-
bend in his church. He died on the 14th January, 1613,
in the 84th year of his age. Although he left behind him
a great mass of MSS., the only work he published was
Johannis Boisii Veteris Interpretis cum Beza ahisque
recentioribus Collatio, in iv. Evangeliis et Actis Apostolo-
rum, Lond. 1655, 4to; the object of which was to defend
the vulgate version of the Xew Testament. When he was
a young man he received from Dr. Whitaker three rules
for avoiding the diseases to which literary men are subject
— 1. to read standing ; 2. not to read near a window : and
3. not to go to bed with the feet cold : and by following
these and some other sanatory precepts, his life was not
only prolonged to a great age, but it is said that when he
died his brow was without wrinkles, his sight quick, his
hearing sharp, his countenance fresh, and his body sound.
— Anthony Walker in Pedis Desiderata Curiosa. Wijod's
Fasti. Fuller.

BOYS, JOHN.

John Boys was born in 1571, of a family that came into
Kent at the Conquest; he was educated at Coi-pus Christi
College, Cambridge, from whence he was elected fellow of
Clare Hall. Sir John Boys, his uncle, presented him to the
livings of Bettishanger and the adjoining parish of Tilman-
stone, near Deal ; and archbishop Whitgift collated him to
the mastership of Eastbridge hospital, in Canterbury. He
took his doctor's degree and became a "powerful preacher.''
He found a new patron in archbishop Abbot who collated
him to the rectory of Great Mongeham in 1618. He was
appointed by James I. dean of Canterbury, May, 16J9.
This dignity, however, he did not enjoy long, dying sud-
denly in his study, September 26, 1625, at the age of
fifty-four. His chief work is his Postils, or a series of
Discourses on the Epistles, Gospels, &c., of the Christian

S8 BRADBURY.

Year. He was a violent opponent of popery, and was the
author of the following profane parody on the Lord's
Prayer : " Papa noster qui es Romae, maledicetur nomen
tuum, intereat regnum tuum, impediatur voluntas tuu,
sicut in ccelo sic et in terra :" — but the whole of the
blasphemy we forbear to quote, only alluding to the
subject to shew the irreverence of ultra-protestantism.
It is said that Dr. Boys did not invent, but only quoted
with approbation, this perversion of the Lord s Prayer
into a malediction. In 1631 " certain sermons" of his

were printed. Todd's Deans of Canterhury. Fuller.

Wood. Granger.

BEADBUKY, THOMAS.

Thomas Beadbuey was born at Wakefield, in 1677, and
became a dissenting preacher at eighteen years of age. As
a preacher he was distinguished for his buffoonery, and
men w^ent to his meeting-house to be amused by his jokes.
For twenty years he thus preached at a meeting-house in
Fetter-lane, London, and afterwards succeeded Daniel
Burgess, another preaching joker, at the meeting-house of
New-court, Carey street. So obtuse was the sense of pro-
priety in Bogue, the historian of dissent, that he remarks,
on Bradbury's translation to New-court, " This pulpit a
second time presented a phenomenon as rare as it is
henejicial, wit consecrated to the services of serious and
eternal truth." — (Bogue, vol. ii. p. 403.) Among the
standing objects of his mirth was the religious poetry of
Dr. Watts. He thus used, accordingly, to give out a
hymn from that writer, it may be hoped only when in a
sillier mood than common, "Let us sing one of Dr.
VVatts's Whims." At another time, preaching before an
association of ministers at Salter's Hall, on the Arian
controversy, he exclaimed, " Y^'ou who are not ashamed to
own the deity of our Lord follow me to the gallery," to
which he immediately bent his way : but some of the
opposite party beginning to hiss, he turned round, and

BRADFORD. -^9

said, " I have been pleading for Him who bruised the
serpent's head ; no wonder the seed of the sei'pent should
hiss." His favourite meal was supper, before sitting
down to which, he was accustomed to expound and pray ;
afterwards he entertained his company with '• The Roast-
Beef of Old England," in singing which he was considered
to excel. After entertaining the public with this facetious
preaching, and these anti-monastic revelries for thirty-two
years, he died September 9th, 1759, deeply regretted by
the great body of dissenters. His works, consisting of
fifty-four sermons, were published in 176'2, in three
volumes, 8vo, They are chiefly political, and it was
remarked at the time of their publication, that " from
the great number of sacred texts api:)lied to the occasion,
one would imagine from these discourses the Bible
written only to confirm by divine authority the benefits
accruing to this natim from the accession of king
William III."

Mr. X. Xtal, in a letter to Dr. Doddridge, on the
publication of some of Bradbury's sermons, observes,
" I have seen Mr Bradbury's sermons, just pub-
lished, the nonsense and buffoonery of which would make
one laugh, if his impious insults over the pious dead

did not make one tremble." Boc/ue. Doddridge's

Letters.

BRADFORD, JOHN.

John Bradford was born at Manchester in the early
part of the reign of Henry VIIL, and was educated
at the grammar school there ; he became distinguished
as an accountant. This accomplishment procured for
him the place of clerk or secretaiy to Sir John Har-
rington, who was treasurer of the royal camps and
buildings. Sir John Harrington placed entire confidence
in his integrity as well as in his ability, but unfortunately
overrated his superiority to temptation. Bradford appro-
c-2

30 BRADFORD.

priated to his own use, one hundred and forty pounds
belonging to the crown. Some protestant historians,
blinded by party feeling, endeavour to palliate the crime
of one who became afterwards so distinguished. But
the real defence of Bradford is this, that he did deeply
and truly repent, that he deplored to the end of life
his "great thing," as he sorrowfully termed his act of
peculation, and that, when his mind was enlightened as
to the nature of his sin, and his Conscience reproached
him, he became his own accuser, and took measures to
make restitution. It is doubtful whether he was first
awakened to a sense of his sin under the preaching of
bishop Latimer, but under the agonies of an accusing
conscience he certainly applied to him as a spiritual advi-
ser. The idea had struck Bradford that in order to raise
the requisite sum, and to make restitution, he might sell
his services for a stipulated period or even permanently ;
as was not imusual among the ancient Israelites. Lati-
mer was at the time when Bradford sent to consult him
on this point, engaged in the composition of a sermon to
be preached before the king, and evidently did not give
proper attention to this case of conscience. He sent a
very unsatisfactory answer that the case had better be left
in the hands of God. But Bradford found more sub-
stantial relief from Sir John Harrington himself, who
generously consented to satisfy the crown, and to accept
his dependant's security for repayment to himself.

Bradford, dismissed from his employment, studied for
some time in the Inner Temple, where he is said to have
heard more sermons than law lectures. He soon attached
himself with characteristic zeal to that party in our
beloved church v/hich was labouring for its reformation.
A movement party always attaches to itself the more
earnest minds, anxious for improvement in others as well
as in themselves ; but as they are not always the most
judicious or the best informed, the reforming party, [now,
in the reign of Edward VI.,] in pov/er, was anxious to

BRADFORD. 31

employ all who united with zeal and eloquence, a sound
judgment and competent learning. Bradford was, there-
fore, easily persuaded to prepare himself for employment
in the church, and accordingly went to Cambridge.
Here he soon found a patron in Dr. Ridley, bishop of
Rochester, and master of Pembroke Hall. He had
entered at Catherine Hall, but became a fellow soon after
of Ridley's college. His modesty was as conspicuous as
his piety while at Cambridge. The manner of his laying
his past sins before his eyes, by the catalogues he made
of them, and his inward and retired exercise of prayer ;
his praying with himself, as well as with his pupils ; and,
above all, the diary he kept of whatever was remarkable
and serviceable to his steady advancement in the practice
of piety, are particularly described among his exercises,
whilst he was at the university, by Martin Bucer, who
could best do it; more especially of this last task, he
speaks in these words : " He used to make unto himself
an ephemeris, or a journal, in which he used to write all
such notable things as either he did see or hear, each day
that passed. But whatsoever he did hear or see, he did
so pen it, that a man might see in that, the signs of his
smitten heart. For if he did see or hear any good in any
man; by that sight, he found and noted the want thereof
in himself ; and added a short prayer, craving mercy and
grace to amend. If he did hear or see any misery, he
noted it, as a thing procured by his own sins ; and still
added Domine misere mei : Lord have mercy upon me.
He used in the same book, to note such evil thoughts as
did rise in him ; as of envying the good of other men ;
thoughts of unthankfulness ; of not considering God in
His works ; of hardness and unsensibleness of heart when
he did see others moved and afflicted : and thus he made
to himself and of himself, a book of daily practices of
repentance."

It seems that the reforming party were so anxious to em-
ploy him that he obtained, probably by royal mandate, and
through Ridley's interest, the degree ox M.A. before the

S'^ BRADFORD.

termination of his first year's residence. In 1550, when
Dr. Ridley was translated to the see of London, that great
prelate ordained Bradford a deacon, somewhat irregularly,
and soon after made him his chaplain, and preferred him
to a prebend in St. Paul's. In. December this year he
received a license of preaching. In the year following it
was thought fit that the king should retain six chaplains,
who should not only in their turn be in waiting upon
him, but should act also as itinerant preachers, to excite
as well as instruct the people. Bradford was nominated
as one of the six, but for some cause or other the number
was reduced to four, and Bradford was one of the two
excluded from the appointment. That he became a
popular preacher is clear : he was not perhaps the most
dignified or reverential of his class ; but if he was some-
thing of a demagogue as well as a preacher, he fearlessly
maintained his principles when preaching before the great.
Bishop Ridley said of him, that he was one of those
preachers who " ripped so deeply in the galled backs of
the great men of the court, as to have purged them of the
filthy matter that was festered in their hearts, of insatia-
ble covetousness, filthy carnality, and voluptuousness,
intolerable ambition and pride, and ungodly loathsome-
ness to hear poor men's causes and God's word ; that him
of all other they could not abide." But there is yet higher
testimony borne in his favour by bishop Ridley : he says
of him . " He is a man by whom, as I am assuredly
informed, God doth work wonders in setting forth His
word."

His influence with the mob was clearly proved at the
commencement of queen Mary's reign. Bourn, [see his
life] one of the royal chaplains, was appointed to preach
at St. Paul's Cross. A mob was assembled to hear him ;
as the romanizing party declared, a packed mob, assembled
for tbe purpose of insulting him, if, as was suspected, he
should censure the proceedings of the late king's govern-
ment. Bourn complained of the conduct of the reformers
when in power. Pull him down, suddenly exclaimed a

BRADFORD. 33

voice in the crowd. The cry was echoed by several groups
of women and children. A dagger was hurled at the
preacher by one of the protestant zealots, which narrowly
missed him. Bourn turned about, and perceiving Bradford
behind him, he earnestly begged him to come forwards and
pacify the people. Bradford was no sooner in his place,
and recommended peace and concord to them, than with
a joyful shout at the sight of him, they cried out, " Brad-
ford, Bradford, God save thy hfe, Bradford !"' and then,
with profound attention to his discourse, heard him
enlarge upon peaceful and Christian obedience ; which
when he had finished, the tumultuous people, for the
most part, dispersed ; but, among the rest who persisted,
there was a certain gentleman, with his two servants, who,
coming up the pulpit stairs, rushed against the door,
demanding entrance upon Bourn ; Bradford resisted him,
till he had secretly given Bourn warning, by his servant,
to escape ; who, flying to the mayor, once again escaped
death. Yet conceiving the danger not fully over, Bourn
besought Bradford not to leave him till he was got to some
place of security ; in which Bradford again obliged him,
and went at his back, shadowing him from the people with
his gown, while the mayor and sheriffs, on each side, led
him into the nearest house, which was St. Paul's school ;
and so was he a third time delivered from the fury of the
populace. It is added that one of the mob, most inveterate
against Bourn, exclaimed, "Ah ! Bradford, Bradford, dost
thou save his life who will not spare thine ? Go, I give
thee his life ; but were it not for thy sake, I would thrust
him through with my sword." The same Sunday, in the
afternoon, Bradford preached at Bow church, in Cheap-
side, and sharply rebuked the people for their outrageous
behaviour.

The government accused the reforming party of having
caused the tumult which had thus endangered the public
peace, and every one will admit that the violence exhibited,
and the attempt to assassinate the preacher on the part of
the protestants, were sufficient to excite alarm. As Brad-

34 BRADFORD.

ford's influence was so successful in appeasing the riot
when he thought fit to interfere, it was presumed from
the fact that he did not interfere sooner, that the previous
proceedings had met with his sanction, and that the whole
had been preconcerted by him. Three days after his in-
terposition in behalf of Bourn, he was summoned before
the council, and committed to prison in the Tower. His
defence, that he had preached strongly that day against
popular licentiousness, will not weigh much with those
who remember that this is the constant course pursued by
demagogues ; while calling masses together whom they
know to be bent on violence, they seek to escape responsi-
bility, by warning them of the duty of acting peaceably.
The real vindication of Bradford is to be found in the fact
that nothing could be proved against him, shewn by the fact
that he lay in prison for a year and a half without being
brought to a trial. It is indeed highly probable that the
reforming party had endeavoured to surround the out-door
pulpit at St. Paul's Cross with their own mob, and
Bradford may have been glad to see himself surrounded
by those with whom he was popular as an orator, but
there does not appear anything in his character to justify
the suspicion that he was himself guilty of sedition.

In the Tower he was confined in the same chamber as
the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishop of London, and
bishop Latimer. However inconvenient this was, they
were very glad to be together, and read over the New
Testament with deliberation and study, to ascertain whe-
ther there was any foundation for the popish doctrine of a
corporal presence, a subject upon which they knew they
should be examined, as it was the test of Romanism in
that age.

After a confinement in the Tower, lasting for three
quarters of a year, Bradford was removed to the Queens
Bench prison, where he was treated with remarkable
kindness. He preached twice every day, and administered
the Holy Communion, for he believed it to be a sacrament
generally necessary to salvation. Visitors to form the

BRADFORD. 35

congregation eagerly sought the privilege of passing the
prison-gates, and he was permitted by his keepers in the
night time to visit the sick in the neighbourhood of
the prison. He lived, nevertheless, ascetically : he allowed
himself only four hours sleep ; he ate but once a day, and
that very sparingly, and once a-week he visited the
malefactors, who were confined in dungeons near his own
apartment. At the same time he wrote numerous letters
to those who were disquieted by the persecution ; espe-
cially did he labour to expose the dissimulation of those
who in appearance renounced the principles they formerly
professed. There were many who were ultra-protestants
in Edward's reign, who now attended the mass, which
was again celebrated in our church after the Romish
manner, although they declared themselves, to their con-
fidential friends, unchanged in their principles ; avowing
that their outward conformity was extorted from them by
the fear of bringing ruin upon their families. Bradford,
with the violence of language which was peculiar to him,
designated these persons as " mangy mongrels," and he
pronounced an unqualified and just condemnation on
their worldly prudence. He even wrote a treatise, attack-
ing the mass, and shewing the mischief of affording to it
any degree of countenance.

It was one of the sad circumstances of the time, that
such a man as Bradford, instead of calmly preparing his
soul for the change awaiting him, like the martyrs of old,
should be violently engaged in controversy to the last.
We are told that he found comfort, not only in prayer, but
in religious argument. True religion generally comes not
by argument, but by inheritance and instruction ; it is
sad when vital points require to be argued, and sadder
still when a disputatious turn of mind is, in consequence,
formed in an individual. When Bradford found none
others with whom to quarrel, he quarrelled with his fellow
X)risoners, too ready, many of them, to indulge the con-
troversial temper to which they were habituated, by un-
seemly and useless disputes. Their grated chambers

36 BRADFORD.

often exhibited that picture of contention which we may
expect to find in the unrenewed man, but which shocks us
when exhibited by the professors of godliness. They
found a source of tumultuous interest in ardent discus-
sions upon the most mysterious dispensations of provi-
dence ; free-will and predestination were topics in which
these unhappy men beguiled the gloomy monotony of their
prison-hours. The disputants eventually ranged them-
selves in parties, viewing each other wdth considerable
aversion. Bradford was actively engaged in their unhappy
dissensions, and took the predestinarian side. Bradford
was told by his opponents, that "he was a great slander
to the word of God in respect of his doctrine, in that he
believed and affirmed the salvation of Gods children to be
so certain, that they should assuredly enjoy the same.
For, they said, it hanged partly upon our perseverance to
the end. Bradford said, it hung upon God's grace in
Christ; and not upon our perseverance in any point:
for then were grace no grace. They charged him, that
he was not so kind to them as he ought in the distribu-
tion of the charity money, that was then sent by well-
disposed persons to the prisoners in Christ, [of which
Bradford was the purse-bearer :] but he assured them he
never defrauded them of the value of a penny: and at that
time sent them at once thirteen shillings and fourpence ;
and, if they needed as much more, he promised that they
should have it,"

By Bradford, his brother reforaiers were accused of
being "plain Papists, yea Pelagians." It seems strange to
hear those who were imprisoned by the papists, and some
of whom suffered death as reformers, accused of being
papists ; but so it was. The accusation is made in a
letter he wrote to the archbishop of Canterbuiy and
bishops Ridley and Latimer, prisoners in Oxford. What
were the sentiments of Cranmer and Latimer on the sub-
ject there are no documents to shew ; but a letter from
Ridley still remains, which clearly shews the opinion of
that eminent prelate, on the abstruse questions, concern-

BRADFORD. 37

ing which Bradford contended with such intemperate
eagerness. That Bradford, in the judgment of Ridley,
laid too great a stress on these doctrines, is indisputable :
Ridley thought that Bradford had over- rated both " the
importance of the controvei'sy and the influence of his
adversaries." But it may be also fairly concluded, from
the letter of Ridley, that he could not go so far as Brad-
ford in the doctrines of election and predestination. After
having stated that he had selected all the passages in the
New Testament which had a bearing on these points, and
that he had written remarks on the several texts, he
summed up the matter in a sentence, which, for its
moderation and its humility, can never be repeated with-
out good effect : " In those matters I am so fearful, that
I dare not speak farther ; yea, almost none otherwise than
the text doth, as it were, lead me by the hand." Whether
Bradford retained his sentiments is immaterial ; for if he
did not change his opinions, he moderated his violence.
When he found that he was unable to convince his fellow
sufferers, he desired that they might pray for each other.
" I love you," he wrote to them, " though you have taken
it otherwise without cause ; I am going before you to my
God and your God, to my Father and your Father, to my
Christ and your Christ, to my home and your home."

During their progress an attempt was made to terminate
these contentions, by the preparation of articles which
appeared likely to shock the prejudices of neither party.
These compromises never succeed when men, whether
right or wrong, are in earnest : the more violent predesti-
nariaus, after giving hopes that they would unite with
their brethren, refused their signature to the propositions
awaiting their attestation.

In 1555 the persecution was renewed with increased
violence, and the death of Bradford was determined upon.
His constancy unto death was the more meritorious, as his
nature shrunk with horror from the tortures which were
prepared for him. His imagination was often haunted

VOL. III. D

33 BRADFORD.

in his sleep by frightful pictures of the horrors that
awaited him. But he found grace to stand firm. Some
of the leaders of the Romanizing party had hopes, perhaps,
for some time, by their gentle treatment of him, to win
over to their side one whose popular talents would have
been peculiarly serviceable to them. Bishop Gardiner,
now chancellor, and Dr. Bonner, bishop of London, treated
him with their accustomed injustice, and tried, but in
vain, to substantiate against him the old charge of sedi-
tion ; but Bradford most ably defended himself. At one
time they brought Dr. Bourn, now bishop of Bath and
Wells, into court, with the intention, it w^ould appear, of
making him a witness against the accused for his conduct
at St. Paul's Cross. But bishop Bourn, though he had
not courage to accuse one who preserved his life from the
violence of the protestant mob on that occasion, had too
much principle to take part against him, and was silent.
Bishop Gardiner now abandoned the charge of sedition,
and determined to proceed against him as a heretic. An
altercation arose respecting the corporal presence, in which
Bradford maintained his view of the question with the
acuteness and spirit of an habitual polemic. The follow-
ing were Bradford's definitions upon this subject in his
last examination : "I never denied nor taught, but that
to faith, whole Christ, body and blood, was as present
as bread and wine to the due receiver. I believe Christ
is present there to the faith of the due receiver. As for
transubstantiation, I plainly and flatly tell you I believe
it not. I deny that He (Christ) is included in the bread,
or that the bread is transubstantiate." Being asked
whether the wicked receive Christ's body, he answered at
once, " No. He further said, that as the cup is the New
Testament, so the bread is Christ's body to him that
receiveth it duly, but yet so that the bread is bread."
(Foxe, 1463.) In a letter, which he found the means of
writing, after his condemnation, to the protestants of
Manchester, he thus expresses himself: " In the Supper

BRADFORD. 3P

of our Lord, or Sacrament of Christ's bodj and blood, I
confess and believe that there is a tiue and very presence
of whole Christ, God and man, to the faith of the receiver,
but not of the stander-by, or looker on ; as there is a very
true presence of bread and wine to the senses of him that
is partaker thereof." (Letters of the Martyrs, 265.) " I
cannot, dare not, nor will not confess ti-ansubstantiation,
and how that wicked men, yea, mice and dogs, eating the
sacrament, (which they term of the altar, thereby over-
throwing Christ's holy supper utterly) do eat Christ's
natural and real body born of the Virgin Mary. To
believe and confess, as God's word teacheth, as. the primi-
tive Church believed, and all the Catholic, and good holy
fathers taught for 500 years at the least after Christ, that
in the Supper of the Lord, (which the mass overthroweth,
as it doth Christ's priesthood, sacrifice, death, and passion,
the ministry of His w^ord, true faith, repentance, and all
godliness,) whole Christ, God and man, is present, by grace,
to the faith of the receivers, but not of the standers-by,
and lookers-on, as the bread and wine is to their senses ;
will not serve, and therefore, I am condemned, and shall
be burned out of hand as an heretic." (Bradford to the
faithful at Walden. Ibid. 270.) The following is his
advice to a friend as to the answer proper to be given upon
this subject. " If they talk wdth you of Christ's Sacrament
instituted by Him, whether it be Christ's body or no,
answer them, that as to the eyes of your reason, to your
taste and corporal senses, it is bread and wine, and there-
fore the Scripture calleth it after consecration so ; even to
the eyes, taste, and senses of your faith, which ascendeth
to the right hand of God in heaven, where Christ sitteth,
it is in very deed Christ's body and blood, which spiritually
3'our soul feedeth on to everlasting life, in faith and by
faith, even as your body presently feedeth on the sacra-
mental bread and sacramental wine." {Ibid. 39L)

Enough was extracted from him to prove that he dis-
beheved the Romish theory of transubstantiation, and he
was condemned. After condemnation he was carried first

40 BRADFORD.

to the Clink-prison, and afterwards to the Poultry-compter.
Several ecclesiastics on the Romish side, English and
Spanish, visited his cell, to endeavour to make him recant.
In answering what was advanced on the subject of tran-
substantiation, Bradford repeatedly mentioned bishop
Tunstalls admission, that before the fourth council of
Lateran, Christians were not bound to receive the eucha-
ristic doctrine, exactly as it is now taught in the Roman
church.

Bradford expected that he should sujQfer in his native
town of Manchester ; but he actually met his death in
Smithfield, on the first of July, 1555. On the night
preceding, the keeper's wife approached with an agitated
countenance, and said, " Oh, master Bradford, this night
you must leave us for Newgate, and to-morrow you will be
burned." Bradford instantly put off his cap, thanked
God for the news, expressed his readiness to take leave of
mortality, and prayed that he might act worthily of the end
to which heaven had called him. He was not removed
until between eleven and twelve o'clock at night, and as
he passed through the yard the miserable inmates of the
gaol, crowding around the grated apertures of their cells,
wept at his departure, and warmly bade him farewell.
Late as was the hour, on entering the street, he found a
multitude of people waiting for a sight of him ; nor did
sobs, prayers, and affectionate adieus, intermit for a
moment during his progress to Newgate. A rumour had
gone abroad, that he was to suffer by four o'clock on the
following morning; and, accordingly, Smithfield was
crowded at that hour. He did not, however, appear there
before nine o'clock. The concourse was immense, and
the precautions against popular violence were much more
extensive than any that had been taken upon a former
occasion. A second victim was provided in the person of
John Leafe, a tallow-chandler's apprentice, of nineteen,
who refused his assent to transubstantiation, and to the
Romish doctrine of sacramental absolution. On reaching
the pyre, both the sufferers fell upon their faces, and

BRADFORD. 41

remained for a short space engaged in prayer. They were,
however, quickly disturbed by the sheriffs, who seem to
have been somewhat alarmed by the multitudes which
poured down upon the spot. Being fastened to the stake,
Bradford said with a loud voice, " 0 England, England,
repent thee of thy sins : beware of idolatry, beware of
antichrists, take heed that they do not deceive thee."
Hearing these words, one of the sheriffs said, that if
Bradford were not quiet, he would have his hands tied.
The martyr immediately replied, " O master sheriff, I am
quiet : God forgive you this." He then declared himself
in perfect charity with all the world, asked forgiveness of
any who might complain of him, intreated the spectators
to aid him with their prayers, while his soul was in part-
ing, and addressed a few words of encouragement to the
youth who was chained at his side. Having thus taken
leave of his fellow-men, he embraced the reeds around
him ; and after saying, " Straight is the way, and narrow
is the gate that leadeth to eternal salvation, and few thei*e
be that find it," his voice was heard no more.

Bradford was an earnest-minded, true-hearted man, and
as such he was beloved by his friends, and respected by
his enemies. He had faults both in temper and in doc-
trine, but allowance must be made for the circumstances
under which he was placed, and we must remember that
he lived in a revolutionaiy age, when almost every ancient
principle was shaken. It was impossible for him not to
repudiate the Romish corruptions jwhich existed in our
church, when once they were pointed out to him, as they
were by the heads of the church, the archbishop of Canter-
bury, Dr. Cranmer, and the bishop of London, Dr. Ridley.
The evil of the times was, that there was as yet nothing
substantial on which to fall back. Men were shaken out
of their old position, and were feeling their way for some
solid standing-place, in a kind of twilight.

Bradford's writings are numerous; they are not of much
intrinsic value, though they serve to illustrate the history
D-2

4a BHADWARBIN.

of the age, and the state of religious opinion on the reform-
ing side. In Coverdale's collection there are seventy-two
letters by Bradford. — Fox. Stinfioes Cranmer. Parkers
Memorials. Soames. Coverdale. Fuller.

BEAD FORD, SAMUEL.

Samuel Bradford was born in London in 1652. He
received his education first at St. Paul's School, next at
the Charter-house, and lastly at Bene't College, Cambridge,
which he left without taking a degree, having some scruples
about subscription, which he eventually surmounted when
archbishop Sancroft procured him a mandate for that of
M. A. in 1680, at which time he acted as private tutor in
gentlemen's families. He did not enter into orders till
1690, when he was chosen minister of St. Thomas's,
Southwark, and soon after lecturer of St. Mary-le-Bow, to
which rectory he was also presented by archbishop Tillot-
son. He was appointed chaplain to William the third,
and afterwards to queen Anne, with whom he visited
Cambridge, and was created doctor in divinity. In 1707
the queen gave him a prebend of Westminster, and in
1710 he w^as offered the bishopric of St. David's, which
he declined. In 1716 he was elected master of Bene't
College, and in 1718 was consecrated bishop of Carlisle,
from whence he was translated to Rochester with the
deanery of Westminster in 1728. He died in 1731.
His sermons at Boyle's lecture were published in 4to, in
1699 ; besides which he printed some single discourses,
and assisted in editing the works of archbishop Tillotson.
— Masters s Hist, of Corpus Christi College. Birch's Life of
Tillotson.

BRADWARDIN, OR BRADWARDINE.

Bradwardin, the profound doctor, one of the most illus-
trious of English schoolmen, was born at Hartfield, in

BRADWARDIN. 43

Sussex, in the middle of the reign of Edward I. He was
educated at Merton College, Oxford, and was proctor of
the university in 13 "2 5. He afterwards became chancellor
of the university, and professor of divinity. He had the
privilege of being at one time chaplain to Richard de
Bury, bishop of Durham, whose " manner was at dinner
and supper time to have some good book read unto him,
whereof he would discourse with his chaplains a great part
of the next day, if business did not interrupt his course."
Bradwardin was distinguished as much for strictness of
life as for his learning, and hence archbishop Stratford
recommended him for the direction of the king's con-
science. In capacity of the king's confessor he attended
Edward III. during his wars in France. Such was the
integrity with which he discharged the duties of this re-
sponsible office, that he brought his master under the
control of religion, compelling him to moderate his anger
when provoked, and restrain his ambition when flushed
with victory. He never feared to tell the king the most
unpalatable truths, and yet he did so with such affection
and gentleness, that he only conciliated the royal esteem
and respect. He was constantly with the king in his
campaigns, and never solicited any preferment in church
or state. While he counselled his sovereign, he was labo-
rious in preaching to the troops, and some contemporary
writers have supposed that Edward's victories were in
some degree attributable to the virtues of his chap-
lain. On the eve of battle, he would animate their cour-
age ; in the hour of triumph, he would restrain them
from excess.

While thus employed as a practical man in the court
and camp, distinguished by his unsoldier-hke and un-
courtly manners, yet beloved by soldiers and courtiers, his
name was honoured in the universities as a scholar and
a mathematician. Such was the man whom the chapter
of Canterbury elected to be primate of all England and
metropolitan on the death of Stratford. The election did
not meet with the royal approbation, as the king asserted

44 BRADY.

he could very ill spare so worthy a man to be from him,
and " never could perceive that he himself wished to be
spared." The fact probably was that Bradwardin was as
willing to decline the primacy, as the king was unwilling
to part with his confessor. But it would be a question of
conscience with Bradwardin whether he ought to decline a
responsible office when imposed upon him. The king in
consequence had recourse to one of those expedients, by a
recourse to which so many of our sovereigns brought our
beloved church into subjection to the see of P^ome, though
we should have expected greater prudence in Edward the
third. The king actually wrote to the pope requesting
him to take no notice of the election of Bradwardin, but
to bestow the archbishopric upon Dr. Ufford, son of the
earl of Suffolk. The pope was too ready to have recourse
to the illegal act, and declared Ufford archbishop, making
him at the same time an unusual grant of favour and
privilege. But the plague was at this time raging in
England, and before his consecration, Ufford fell a victim
to it. Again the choice of the chapter fell upon Bradwar-
din, and the king feeling that he had no longer a right to
interpose, his chaplain was consecrated in the year 1349.
But within forty days of his consecration, he too died of
the plague. Thus within one year there were three arch-
bishops of Canterbury. His works are — De causa Dei,
fol., edited by Sir Henry Savile, in 1618, from a MS. in
Merton College library. Geometria Speculativa, cum
Arithmetic^ Speculativa, Paris, 1495, 1504, folio. The
arithmetic had been printed separately in 1502, and
other editions of both appeared in 1512 and 1530. De
Proportionibus, Paris, 1495 ; Venice, 1505, folio. De
Quadratura Circuli, Paris, 1495. Bradwardin also left
some astronomical tables, which appear never to have
been printed. — Godwin. Collier. Savile. Bradw. de causa
Dei. Wood.

BRADY, NICHOLAS.

Nicholas Brady was born at Bandon, in the county

BRADY. 45

of Cork, in 1659. From Westminster school he was
elected a student to Christ Church, Oxford, but after
continuing there four years he went to Trinity College,
Dublin, where he took his degrees in arts, and after-
wards was complimented with that of doctor in divinity.
Bishop Wettenhal of Cork, to whom he was chaplain,
gave him a prebend in his cathedral, and after the
revolution he became minister of St. Catherine Cree,
and lecturer of St. Michael, Wood-steeet, London. Sub-
sequently he obtained the rectory of Clapham in Surrey,
and the living of Pdchmond. He was also chaplain to
king William, and died in 1726. He translated the
^neid into English verse, 4 vols, 8vo ; wrote a tragedy
called the Innocent Impostor ; and published three
volumes of sermons : but he would now have been for-
gotten had it not been for his share in the new version
of Psalms, in conjunction with Tate. This translation
was justly censured by the celebrated bishop Beveridge
when first it was introduced by a side wind, into the
church. After defending the old version and criticising
the new on various grounds, bishop Beveridge remarks,
" But that which is chiefly to be observed in the title is,
that this whole Book of Psalms, collected into English
metre by Thomas Sternhold, John Hopkins, and others,
was ' conferred with the Hebrew :' which cannot be
affirmed of the new version. And although the style
of the former is ' plain, and low, and heavy,' while
that of the latter is ' brisk, and lively, and flourished
here and there with wit and fancy;' yet this objection
was never made by the common people, who never
complained that the psalms which were sung in the
churches were too plain, too low, or too heavy for them ;
but rather loved and admired them the more for pos-
sessing these qualities, and were more edified by the
use of them. And since there is no such thing as ' wit
and fancy' in the holy Scriptures, if there be any of
it in a translation, it must needs differ from the origi-
nal. And although there may still be something of the

46 BRAMHALL.

general sense and design of the place to be found in it,
yet it being wrapped up in such light and gaudy expres-
sions, it will be very difficult to find it ; and, if found, it
will not have that power and eflficacy that it hath in its
plain native colours. For that which tickles the fancy
never toucheth the heart, but flies immediately into air,
from whence it came ; which, therefore, ought to be avoided
as much as it is possible in all discourses and writings of
religion. For religion is too severe a thing to be played
with ; especially the foundation of it, the word of God ; in
which the very poetry is all solid, substantial, and divine.
And so must be the translation of it into other languages; at
least there must be nothing of flashy wit, nothing light or
airy in it. If there be, it may, perhaps, serve young peo-
ple for their diversion, but it can be no help to their devo-
tion, but rather an hindrance ; their minds being apt to
be so much taken up with such a manner of expressing
it, that they neglect the matter designed to be expressed
by it. Whereas, when the Scripture, or any part of it, is
so translated, that there is nothing else to exercise the
thoughts upon, but only the thing itself that is there re-
vealed, if a man that reads it thinks at all of what he
reads, he must think of that, and nothing else. And
therefore, the old translation of the Psalms is so far from
being to be blamed and despised, as it is by some, for the
plainness and simplicity of its style, that it ought to be
the more commended and valued for it : as it is by all
that prefer the plain word of God before the inventions of
men, how well soever they may be adorned and set off." —
Biog. Brit. Beveridges works.

BRAMHALL, JOHN.

John Beamhall, a great Anglican divine, was born
at Pontefract, in Yorkshire, about the year 1593. He
received his primary education in the school of his native
town, and in 1603 was sent to Sidney Sussex College,

BRAMHALL. 47

Cambridge, where he was placed under the care of
Mr. Hulet. After taking the degrees of bachelor in 161-2,
and master of arts in 1616, he quitted the university; and
entering into orders, had a living given him in the city of
York. About the same time he manied Mrs. Halley, a
clergyman's widow, with whom he received a good fortune,
and, what was equally if not more acceptable, a valuable
library, left by her fonner husband. About the same time
he was presented by Mr. Wandesford, afterwards master
of the rolls in Ireland, to the living of Elvington, in York-
shire. In the year 1623 he had two public disputations at
Northallerton with a secular priest and a Jesuit. The
match between prince Charles and the Infanta of Spain,
was then depending; and the papists expected great
advantages and countenance to their religion from it.
These persons, therefore, by way of preparing the way for
them, sent a public challenge to all the anglican clergy in
the county of York ; and when none ventured to accept it,
Bramhall, though then unversed in the school of contro-
versy, undertook the combat. His success in this dihcus-
sion gained him so much reputation, and so recommended
him in particular to Matthews, archbishop of York, who,
though he mildly censured him for engaging in such an
office without first obtaining his consent, made him his
chaplain, and took him into his confidence. He was
afterwards made a prebendary of York, and after that
of Ripon ; at which last place he resided after the arch-
bishop's death, which happened in 1628, and managed
most of the affairs of that church in the quality of sub-
dean. He had great iiilluence in the town of Ripon, and
was also appointed one of his majesty's high commissioners.
Here he shewed his love for his flock, by staying among
them to minister to their wants in the time of a most
contagious and destructive pestilence, visiting them in
their houses, baptizing their children, and giving them
the Eucharist. He was a constant preacher.

In the year 1630 he took a doctor of divinity's degree
at Cambridge ; and soon after was invited to Ireland by

48 BEAMHALL.

the lord viscount Wentworth, deputy of that kingdom,
and Sir Christopher Wandesford, master of the rolls. He
went over in the year 1633, having first resigned all his
church preferments in England ; and a little while after,
obtained the archdeaconry of Meath, the best in that king-
dom. The first public service he was employed in was a
royal visitation ; in which, it seems, he acted as one of thfi
king's commissioners. The church of Ireland was at this
time entirely distinct from the church of England, although
it had been reformed on similar principles. It was not
governed by the same canons, neither did it receive the
thirty-nine articles. Whether wisely or not, Bramhall
laboured to unite the two churches. Of the miserable
state of things in the church of Ireland we have an account
in the following letter from Bramhall to Laud, at that
time bishop of London :
♦• Right Reverend Father,

"My most honoured lord, presuming partly upon
your license, but especially directed by my lord deputy's
commands, I am to give your fatherhood a brief account
of the present state of the poor Church of Ireland, such
as our short intelligence here, and your lordship's weightier
employments there, will permit.

" First, for the fabrics, it is hard to say, whether the
churches be more ruinous and sordid, or the people irre-
verent, even in Dublin, the metropolis of this kingdom
and seat of justice. To begin the inquisition, where the
reformation will begin, we find our parochial church con-
verted to the lord deputy's stable, a second to a nobleman's
dwelling-house, the choir of a third to a tennis-court, and
the vicar acts the keeper.

"In Christ's church, the principal church in Ireland,
whither the lord deputy and council repair every Sunday,
the vaults, from one end of the minster to the other, are
made into tipling- rooms for beer, wine, and tobacco, de-
mised all to popish recusants, and by them and others so
much frequented in time of divine service, that though
there is no danger of blowing up the assembly above their

BRAMHALL. 49

heads, yet there is of poisoning them with the fumes.
The table used for the administration of the blessed Sacra-
ment in the midst of the choir, is made an ordinary seat
for maids and apprentices.

"I cannot omit the glorious tomb in the other cathedral
church of St. Patrick, in the proper place of the altar, just
oj^posite to his majesty's seat, having his father's name
superscribed upon it, as if it were on purpose to gain the
worship and reverence, which the chapter and whole
church are bound by special statute to give towards the
east. And either the soil itself, or a license to build and
huYj, and make a vault in the place of the altar, under
seal, which is a tantamount passed to the earl and his
heirs. ' Credimus esse.Deos ?' This being the case in
Dublin, your lordship will judge what we may expect in
the country.

" Next, for the clergy : I find few footsteps yet of foreign
differences, so I hope it will be an easier task not to admit
them than to have them ejected. But I doubt much
whether the clergy be very orthodox : and could wish both
the articles and canons of the Church of England vere
established here by Act of Parliament or state ; that, as we
live all under one king, so we might both in doctrine and
discipline observe an uniformity.

" The inferior sort of ministers are below all degrees of
contempt, in respect of their poverty and ignorance. The
boundless heaping together of benefices by commendams
and dispensations in the superiors is but too apparent :
yea, even often by plain usurpation, and indirect compo-
sitions made between the patrons, as well ecclesiastic as
lay, and the incumbents ; by which the least part, many
times not above forty shillings, rarely ten pounds in the
year, is reserved for him that should serve at the altar :
insomuch that it is affirmed, that by all or some of these
means one bishop in the remoter parts of the kingdom
doth hold three-and- twenty benefices with cure. Generally
their residence is as little as their livings. Seldom any

VOL. III. E

30 BRAMHALL.

suitor petitions for less than three vicarages at a timer.
And it is a main prejudice to his majesty's service, and
an hindrance to the right establishment of his church,
that the clergy have in a manner no dependence upon
the lord deputy, nor he any means left to prefer those
that are deserving amongst them. For besides all those
advowsons, which w^ere given by that good patron of the
church, king James, of happy memory, to bishops and
the college here, many also were conferred upon the plan-
tations, (never was so good a gift so infinitely abused :)
and I know not how, or by what order, even in these bles-
sed days of his sacred majesty, all the rest of any note
have been given or passed away in the time of the late
lord deputy. (Viscount Falkland.)

" Lastly, for the revenues : how small care hath been
taken for the service of his majesty, or the good of the
church, is hereby apparent, that no officer, or other person,
can inform my lord, what deanery or benefices are in his
majesty's gift; and about three hundred livings are omitted
out of the book of tax for first-fruits and twentieth parts ;
sundry of them of good value, two or three bishoprics,
and the whole diocese of Killfannore. The alienations
of church possessions, by long leases and deeds, are infi-
nite : yea, even since the Act of State to restrain them, it
is believed that divers are bold, still to practise in hopes
of secrecy and impunity, and will adventure until their
hands be tied by act of parliament, or some of the delin-
quents censured in the Star Chamber. The earl of Cork
holds the whole bishopric of Lismore, at the rent of forty
shillings, or five marks, by the year : many benefices, that
ought to be presentative, are by negligence enjoyed as
though they were appropriate.

•' For the remedying of these evils, next to God and
his sacred majesty, I know my lord depends on your
fatherhood's wisdom and zeal for the church. My duty
binds me to pray for a blessing upon both your good en-
deavours. For the present, my lord hath pulled down

BRAMHALL. 51

tiie deputy's seat in his own chapel, and restored the altar
to its ancient place, which was thrust out of doors. The
3ike is done in Christ's Church. The purgation and
restitution of the stable to the right owners and uses will
follow next ; and strict mandates to my lords the bishops,
to see the churches repaired, adorned, and preserved from
profanation, throughout the kingdom.

" For the clergy and their revenues, my lord is careful
that no petitions be admitted ^vithout good certificate and
diligent inquiiy, (thought a strange course here :) and to
enable himself and the succeeding deputies, to encourage
such as shall deserve well in the church, his lordship
intends, as well in the commission for defective titles, as
for the plantations, to reserve the right of advowson to his
majesty, and as well by diligent search in the records, as
by a selected commission of many branches, to regain such
advowsons as have been usui'ped through the negligence of
officers, change of deputies, or power of great men ; and by
the same to inform himself of the true state of the church
and clergy, to provide for the cui^s and residence, to per-
fect his majesty's tax, to prevent and remedy alienations,
to restore illegal impropriations, to dispose, by way of
lapse, of all those supernumerary benefices which are held
unjustly, and not without infinite scandal, under the pre-
tence of commendams and dispensations, and to settle, as
much as in present is possible, the whole state of the
church. This testimony I must give of his care, that it is
not possible for the intentions of a mortal man to be more
serious and sincere than his in those things, that concern
the good of the poor church.

"It is some comfort to see the Romish ecclesiastics
cannot laugh at us, who come behind none in point of
disunion and scandal.

" I know my tediousness w^ill be offensive, unless your
lordship's license, and my Lord Deputy's command, pro-
cure my pardon. I will not add a w^ord more, but the
profession of my humble thanks and bounden service ;

52 BRAMHALL.

and so being ready to receive your lordship's commands,
I desire to remain, as your noble favours have for ever
bound me,

Your lordship's

Daily and devoted servant,

John Bramhall."
Dublin Castle, August the lOth, 1663.

Bramhall immediately applied himself to the recovery
of the alienated property of the church, and eventually
recovered much of the land belonging to it, which had
been illegally alienated by his predecessors, and procured
the passing of some acts for the better support of the
church, and the protection of its property: under the
authority of which he abolished fee-farms, and obtained
compositions for the rent, instead of small reserved rents ;
and in the course of four years, he recovered to the church
about £40,000 a year, which had been wasted and impro-
priated. While labouring, under the lord deputy, for the
externals of the church, he sought to resuscitate a spirit
of piety within, not only by his preaching, but by the holy
example which he set.

In a letter from archbishop Laud to the lord deputy,
Strafford, dated Lambeth, Oct. 14, 1663, the following
remarks occur about the manner proposed for supplying
vacancies in the Irish Episcopate.

" I heartily thank your lordship for the inclosed paper
that you sent me, though you might have spared the
pains ; for I was never jealous that you would do anything
against the good of the Church, or such intentions as I
have towards it. For I am most confident (and I protest
my heart and pen go together) that since the Reformation
there was never any deputy in that kingdom intended the
good of the church so much as your lordship doth. And
I hope you are as resolute in your thoughts for me, that,
since I was the first man that humbly besought his ma-
jesty to send of his chaplains to be bishops in that king-

BRAMHALL. 53

dom, I shall not now recede from it, unless it he at some
times, and on some particular occasions, when I may
receive information from your lordship of some very able
and discerning men on that side.

" Concerning the age of such as should be made bishops
in those parts, I see your lordship and I shall not differ
much ; for I did never intend, may I have free use of my
own judgment, to send you any decrepid man amongst
you. For I very well know, that in places where less
action is necessary than in Ireland, a man may be as well
too old as too young for a bishopric. Your lordship would
not have any there under thirty-five, nor above forty-five.
And truly, my lord, I am in the middle way, and that
useth to be best : for I would have no man a bishop any-
where under forty. And if your lordship understood
clergymen as well as I do, I know you would in this be
wholly of my judgment. I never in all my life knew any
more than one made a bishop before forty ; and he proved so
well, that I shall never desire to see more, nor will, if I
can hinder it ; but this way that I have expressed, have
with you for all occasions, both for church and state.
And, if at any time I send you any of my acquaint-
ance, and break rule of age, life, or doctrine, lay it upon
me home."

It is not a little remarkable, that the first vacancy,
which occurred amongst the Irish bishops, caused a devia-
tion from the rule thus formally announced. But it so
happened, that precisely seven months after the date of
the preceding, on the 14th of May, 1634, the archbishop
wrote thus to the lord deputy : — " Now, my lord, to your
great business. Since the bishop of Derry is dead, I have
(though against the rule which I have lodged with his
majesty) moved earnestly for Dr. Bramhall to succeed
him ; and given him the reasons, why, for his own service,
and the good of the church in that kingdom, he should
dispense in this particular for the doctor's being a little
too young. His majesty, after some arguing on the busi-
E-2

54 BRAMHALL.

ness, and with great testimony of your lordship's good
service to himself and the church, granted him the bishop-
ric, as you will see by the letters which accompany these.
This I have readily done to serve you, with some depar-
ture from my own judgment in matter of age, hoping the
doctor will supply it with temper ; and then he hath the
more strength for his business, which he says he will not,
and I say he must not, leave, till that church be better
settled ; which I dare say must be now, when a king, a
lord deputy, and a poor archbishop, set jointly to it, or
never." Bramhall, at the time in question, must have
been hard upon, if not rather more than, forty years of
age ; beyond the limit, therefore, which the archbishop
haddefined for the episcopal qualification.

The case gave occasion for another important general
observation from archbishop Laud : " What Dr. Bramhall
holds in England, he must leave : that bishopric, being
good, needs no commendam ; if it did, it must be helped
there. For I foresee marvellous great inconvenience, and
very little less than mischief, if way be given to bishops
there to hold commendams here."

Bramhall was consecrated in the chapel of the castle of
Dublin on the 26th of May, in the year 1634. In the
July of that year the parliament sat, and the bishop of
Derry obtained several acts of parliament by which his
labours with respect to the temporalities of the church
were confined. In the convocation which met at the same
time, he laboured to have the correspondence betw^een the
church of Ireland and the church of England more com-
plete, and discoursed, with great moderation and sobriety,
of the convenience of having the articles of peace and
communion in every national church, worded in that
latitude, that dissenting persons in those things, that
concerned not the Christian faith, might subscribe, and
the church not lose the benefit of their labours for an
opinion, which, it may be, they could not help : that it
were to be washed that such articles might be contrived

BRAMHALL. 55

for the whole Christian world, but especially that the
protestant churches under his majesty's dominion might
' all speak the same language ;' and particularly that those
of England and Ireland, being reformed by the same
principle and rule of Scripture, expounded by universal
tradition, councils, fathers, and other ways of conveyance,
might confess their faith in the same form. For, if they
were of the same opinion, why did they not express them-
selves in the same words ?

But he was answered, " that, because their sense was
the same, it was not material if the expressions differed ;
and therefore it was fitter to confirm and strengthen the
articles of this church, passed in convocation, and con-
firmed by king James, in 1615, by the authority of this
present synod."

To this the bishop of Derry replied, " That though the
sense might be the same, yet our adversaries clamoured
much that they were dissonant confessions; and it was
reasonable to take away the offence, when it might be done
easily: but for the confirmation of the articles of 1615, he
knew not what they meant by it; and wished the pro-
pounder to consider, whether such an act would not,
instead of ratifying what was desired, rather tend to the
diminution of that authority, by which they were enacted,
and seem to question the value of that synod, and conse-
quently of this : for that this had no more power than
that, and therefore could add no moments to it, but by so
doing might help to enervate both."

By thus meeting the objection, he avoided the blow
he most feared ; and therefore again earnestly pressed
the receiving of the English articles, which were at
last admitted. Whereupon immediately " drawing up
a canon," says his biographer, rather perhaps we may
suppose, bringing forward the canon which had been pre-
viously drawn up by the lord deputy, and with a copy of
which he would naturally be intrusted for the occasion,
" and proposing it, it passed accordingly." The canon is
the first of those that were made in that convocation :

56 BRAMHALL.

uamely, " of the agreement of the church of England
and Ireland in the profession of the same christian reli-
gion ;" and is expressed in the following terms : —

"For the manifestation of our agreement with the
church of England in the confession of the same Christian
faith, and the doctrine of the sacraments ; we do receive
and approve the book of articles of religion, agreed upon
by the archbishops, and bishops, and the whole clergy, in
the convocation holden at London in the year of our Lord
1562, for the avoiding of diversities of opinions, and for
the establishing of consent touching true religion. And
therefore, if any hereafter shall affirm, that any of those
articles are in any part superstitious or erroneous, or such
as he may not with a good conscience subscribe unto, let
him be excommunicated, and not absolved before he make
a public recantation of his error."

Thus the English articles were received and approved
by the Irish convocation with the single dissentient voice
of a nonconformist minister from the diocese of Down.

The agreement with the church of England in doctrine
having been settled in the convocation, it was further
moved by the bishop of Derry, that, as they had received
the articles, so they would likewise the canons, of the
church of England, in order that the two churches might
have the same rule of government as well as of belief. An
objection to this proposal was made with great earnestness
by the lord primate, that it would appear to be the betray-
ing of the privileges of a national church : that it might
lead to placing the church of England in a state of abso-
lute superintendence and dominion over that of Ireland :
that it was convenient for some discrepancy to appear, if
it were but to declare the free agency of the church of
Ireland, and to express her sense of rites and ceremonies,
that there is no necessity of the same in all churches,
which are independent of each other ,; and that different
canons and modes might co-exist with the same faith,
charity, and communion.

By these and similar arguments the lord primate pre-

BRAMHALL. 57

vailed with the convocation, in which the prepossessions of
many of its members inclined them to a favourable recep-
tion of his reasonings. The fact, indeed, seems to have
been in some degree agreeable to the statement of
Carle, in his Life of the Duke of Ormonde, that the convo-
cation contained many members inclined in their hearts
to the puritanical peculiarities, as distinguished from the
more sober and chastised ordinances of the church of
England, and of themselves prepared to object to some of
the English canons, now offered to their judgment and
approbation : particularly to such as concerned the solem-
nity and uniformity of divine worship, the administration
of the sacraments, and the ornaments used therein ; the
qualifications for holy orders, for benefices, and for plu-
ralities : the oath against simony, the times of ordination,
and the obligations to residency and subscription.

It was accordingly concluded, that such canons as were
fit to be transplanted should be adopted in the church of
Ireland, and others be added to them, having been con-
structed afresh for the purpose, so as to form a complete
rule peculiarly suited to the circumstances of the country.

The execution of this task was committed to the bishop
of Derry ; and the result was the book of constitutions
and canons for the regulation of the church of Ireland,
which, having been passed in convocation, received its
final confirmation and authority from his majesty's assent,
according to the form of the statute, or act of parliament,
made in that behalf.

These canons for the most part agreed in substance
and intention with the English canons, from w^hich, how^-
ever, they differed much in arrangement and coDstruction,
without any obvious improvement, rather perhaps the con-
trary. In number also they were fewer, amounting to one
hundred only, w^hereas the English code comprised one
hundred and forty-one. This diminution is attributable
in a considerable degree to a combination, occasionally, of
more than one of the English into one only of the Irish
canons.

68 BRAMHALL.

The Irish canons do not command men to bow at the
name of Jesus, nor do they insist upon the use of the
surplice, or appoint the bidding prayer.

In these his labours of love, bishop Bramhall met
with much opposition and obloquy, and was, according
to the fashion of the times, charged with popery and
Arminianism by those who were unfriendly to his views.
He visited his native country in 1637, and met with much
respect from Charles I., archbishop Laud, and men of the
highest rank ; but was much surprised, on his arrival in
London, to find an information exhibited against him
in the Star Chamber, of which he soon cleared himself.
The frivolous nature of the charge shewed the animus of
the puritans, who were determined to ruin, if possible,
every dutiful member of the church. On his return to
Ireland, he determined to adopt that country for his own,
and selling his estate in England for six thousand pounds,
he purchased one in the county of Tyrone, and began a
plantation at Omagh. But his attention was soon diverted
from his private affairs by the distraction of the times.
The withdrawal of the virtuous and noble earl of Strafford
from the viceroyalty of Ireland, encouraged the presby-
terians of the north to indulge without reserve their bitter
enmity against the church ; and upon bishop Bramhall
the most vehement assault was made, an impeachment in
1641 being lodged against him, together with the lord
chancellor Bolton and lord chief justice Lowther. The
attack was a powerful one, the popish and puritan parties
having combined their forces. The impeachment was
made by Sir Bryan O'Neal, the leader of the popish party,
supported by protestant non-conformists The bishop s
friends advised him to continue in Derry, where he was
superintending his charge, and not expose himself to
trial in Dublin. But conscious of his integrity and
innocence, he hastened to the metropolis ; and appeared
the next day in the parliament house, greatly to the
astonishment of his enemies, by whom he was made a
close prisoner.

BRAMHALL. 59

The course of this persecution shall be related in the
forcible and eloquent language of bishop Taylor, who thus
describes the discomfiture of malignity before uprightness
and truth.

" When the numerous armies of vexed people heaped
up catalogues of accusations ; when the parliament of
Ireland imitated the violent proceedings of the disordered
English ; w^hen his glorious patron was taken from his
head, and he was disrobed of his great defences ; when
petitions were invited, and accusations furnished, and
calumny was rewarded and managed with art and power ;
when there were above two hundred petitions put in
against him, and himself denied leave to answer by word
of mouth ; when he was long imprisoned and treated so
that a guilty man would have been broken into affright-
ment, and pitiful and low considerations : yet then he
himself, standing almost alone, like Callimachus at Mara-
thon, invested with enemies and covered with arrows,
defended himself beyond all the powers of guiltiness, even
with the defences of truth and the bravery of innocence,
and answered the petitions in writing, sometimes twenty
in a day, with so much clearness, evidence of truth, reality
of fact, and testimony of law, that his very enemies were
ashamed and convinced. They were therefore forced to
leave their muster-rolls, and decline the particulars, and
fall to their ev jixsya, to accuse him for going about to sub-
vert the fundamental laws ; the way by which great Straf-
ford and Canterbuiy fell ; which was a device, when all
reasons failed, to oppress the enemy by the bold aflfirma-
tion of a conclusion they could not prove."

A letter written at this time, April the 26th, 1641, by
the bishop to the lord primate, contains much of the
charge against him, and of the defence which he pleaded :
and an extract from it may be here fitly inserted from
Bishop Vesey's Life.

" It would have been a great comfort and contentment
to me, to have received a few lines of counsel or comfort
in this my great affliction, which has befallen me for my

60 BRAMHALL.

zeal to the service of his majesty, and the good of this
church ; in being a poor instrument to restore the usurped
advowsons and appropriations to the crown, and to increase
the revenue of the church, in a fair just way, always with
the consent of the parties, which did ever use to take
away errors.

" But now it is said to be obtained by threatening and
force. What force did I ever use to any? What one
man ever suffered for not consenting ? My force was
only force of reason and law. The scale must needs yield
when weight is put into it. And your grace knows to
what pass many bishoprics were brought, some to £100
per annum ; some £50, as Waterford, Kilfenoragh, and
some others ; some to five marks, as Cloyne and Kil-
macduagh : how in some dioceses, as in Ferns and
Leighlin, there was scarce a living left that was not
farmed out to the patron, or to some for his use, at
£2, £3, £4, or £5, per annum, for a long time, three
lives, or a hundred years : how the chantries of Ardee,
Dondalk, &c., were employed to maintain priests and
friars, which are now the chief maintenance of the
incumbents.

" In all this, my part was only labour and expense :
but I find that losses make a deeper impression than
benefits. I cannot stop men's mouths ; but I challenge
all the world for one farthing I ever got, either by refer-
ences or church preferments. I fly to your grace as an
anchor at this time, when my friends cannot help me.
God knows how I have exulted at night, that day I had
gained any considerable revenue to the church, little
dreaming that in future times that act should be ques-
tioned as treasonable. I never took the oath of judge or
counsellor ; yet do I not know, wherein I ever in all these
passages deviated from the mle of justice. My trust is in
God, that, as my intentions were sincere, so He will deli-
ver me

Since I was a bishop, 1 never displaced any man in niy
diocese, but Mr. Noble for his professed popery, Mr. Hugh

BRAMHiVLL. 61

for confessed simony, and Mr. Dimkine, aD illiterate
curate, for refusing to pray for his majesty.

" Almighty God bless your grace, even as the church
stands in need of you at this time : which is the hearty
and faithful prayer

Of your grace's obedient servant and suffragan,
Jo. Deeensis.
Ajyril '2Wi, 1461."

The primate in his answer, gave the bishop, among
other things, an assurance of his own sympathy and exer-
tions in his behalf; of the good will of the king; and of
the interest taken in his welfare by the excellent noble-
man, who had recently fallen a sacrifice to the malevolence
of their enemies.

" I assure you my care never slackened in soliciting
your cause at court, with as great vigilancy as if it did
touch my own proper person. I never intermitted an
occasion of mediating with his majesty in your behalf,
who still pitied your case, acknowledged the faithfulness
of your services both to the Church and to him, avowed
that you were no more guilty of treason than himself, and
assured me that he would do for you all that lay in his

power

My Lord Strafford, the night before his suffering, (which
was most Christian and magnanimous, adstiqwrem usque,)
sent me to the king, giving me in charge, among other
particulars, to put him in mind of you, and of the ^ther
two lords that are under the same pressure."

In the end, the king, being anxious that the bishop's
death should not be added to that of the noble earl, who
had made his safety one of the objects of his dying request
to his majesty, sent over to Ireland a letter, to provide for
the bishop's deliverance. But the word of a king was
scarcely powerful enough to procure obedience. However,
at length, the bishop was restored to liberty, though with-
out any public acquittal, the charge still lying dormant

6-2 BRA^IHALL.

against him, to be awakened when his enemies should
please. "But; alas!" says Bishop Bramhall's biographer,
•' these were flashes that caused more fear than hurt: the
fier}^ matter at last burst into such thunder-claps, that
the foundation of the whole kingdom reeled."

A letter from Bishop Bramhali to his wife written at
this time, is here subjoined to show how the virtues and
charities of domestic life blended with qualities of a more
commanding kind.
•'My dearest joy,

" Thou mayest see by my delay in writing that I am
not wilHng to write while things are in these conditions.
But shall we receive good at the hands of God, and shall
we not receive ill ? He gives and takes away, blessed be
His holy name ! I have been near a fortnight at the black
rod, charged with a treason. Never any man was more
innocent of that foul crime : the ground is only my re-
sei-vedness. God in His mercy, I do not doubt, will send
us many merry and happy days together after this, when
this storm is blown over. But this is a time of humili-
ation for the present. By all the love between us, I re-
quire thee that thou do not cast down thyself, but bear it
with a cheerful mind, and trust in God that He will
deliver us."

Shortly after the bishop's return to Londonderry, Sir
Phelim O'Neil contrived his ruin in the following
manner. He directed a letter to him, wherein he desired,
" that according to their articles such a gate of the
city should be delivered to him:" expecting that the
Scots in the place would upon the discovery become
his executioners. But the person, who was to manage
the matter, ran away with the letter. Though this
•lesign miscarried, the bishop did not find any safety
there. The city daily filling with discontented persons
out of Scotland, he began to be afraid, lest they should
deliver him up. One night they turned a cannon against
his house to afPrcmt him ; whereupon, being persuaded by

BRAMHALL. 63

his fnends to look on that as a warning, he took their
advice, and privately embarked for England. Here he
continued active in the kings service, till his affairs ^ere
grown desperate ; and then, embjarking with several per-
sons of distinction, he landed at Hamburgh upon the Hth
of July, 1644. Shortly after the treaty of Uxbridge, the
parliaments of England and Scotland made this one of
their preliminary demands, that Bishop Bramhall, together
with Archbishop Laud, &c., should be excepted out of the
general pardon.

From Hamburgh he went to Brussels, where he con-
tinued for the most part till 1648, with Sir Henry de Vic,
the king's resident; constantly preaching every Sunday,
and frequently administering the Holy Communion. In
that year he returned to Ireland ; from whence, after
having undergone several dangers and difficulties, he nar-
rowly escaped in a little bark. All the while he was
there, his life was in continual danger. At Limerick he
was threatened with death, if he did not suddenly depart
the town. At Portumnagh indeed he afterwards enjoyed
more freedom, and an allowance of the Church Service,
under the protection of the Marquis of Claniicard: but, at
the revolt of Cork, he had a very narrow deliverance.;
which deliverance however troubled Cromwell so much,
that he declared he would have given a large sum of
money for that Irish Canterbury, as he called him. His
escape from Ireland is accounted wonderful : for the vessel
he was in was closely hunted by two of the parliament
frigates ; and when they were come so near, that all hopes
of being saved were taken away, on the sudden the wind
sunk into a perfect calm, yet some how suffered the vessel
ti) get off, while the frigates were unable to proceed at all.
During this second time of being abroad, he had many
controversies on the subject of religion with the learned o(
all nations, sometimes occasionally, at other times by ap-
pointment and formal challenge ; and wrote several works
in defence of the Church of England : indeed, most of his
works were written at different times during his exile

64 BRAMHALL.

from Ireland, between the years 1613 and 1660. Among
tbese we may especially mention his "Answer to M. de
Milletiere his impertinent dedication of his imaginary tri-
umph : intitled, the Victory of Truth ; or his epistle to the
king of Great Britain, wherein he invited his majesty to
forsake the Church of England, and to embrace the
Roman Catholic religion : with the said Milletiere's
epistle prefixed." This was first published at the Hague
in 1654, r2mo, but not by the author. It was occasioned
by the fact, that the Romanists endeavoured to persuade
king Charles 11. during his exile, to expect his restoration
by embracing their religion : and for that pui'pose employ-
ed Milletiere, councillor in ordinary to the king of France,
to write him this epistle. We may here mention that Theo-
phile Brachet, Sieurde la Milletiere, was originally a mem-
ber of the French Reformed congregations, and sufficiently
distinguished among them to be selected as a deputy and
secretary to the Assembly of La Rocbelle in 1621, He
entered subsequently into the plans of Cardinal Richelieu
for the union of the Roman Catholic and Reformed
Churches in France, — published a great number of letters,
pamphlets, and treatises upon the doctrines in dispute
between them, assimilating gradually to the Roman
Catholic tenets, — was suspended in consequence by the
Synod of Alengon in 1637, and expelled by that of Cha-
renton in 1645, from the Reformed communion, — aiKi
finally became a Roman Catholic " of necessity, that he
might be of some religion." " He was a vain and shallow
man, full of himself, and persuaded that nothing ap-
proached to his own merit and capacity ;" and, after his
change of religion, " was perpetually playing the mis-
sionary, and seeking conferences, although he was always
handled in them with a severity sufficient to have damped
his courage, had he not been gifted with a perversity
which nothing could conquer" (Benoit, Hist, de I'Edit de
Nantes, tom. ii. liv. 10. pp. 514, 516). The work to
which Bramhall replied seems fully to bear out the truth
of this sketch of his character.

BRAMHALL. m

Bramhall was thoroughly armed as an Anglican divine,
and the reader will peruse with interest the following ex-
tract from this powerful work : —

" If jour intention be only to invite his majesty to em-
brace the Catholic Faith, you might have spared both your
oil and labour. The Catholic Faith flourished 1,200 years
in the world before transubstantiation was defined among
yourselves. Persons better acquainted with the primitive
times than yourself (unless you wrong one another) do
acknowledge, that " the Fathers did not touch either the
word or the matter of transubstantiation." Mark it well,
neither name nor thing. His majesty doth firmly believe
ail supernatural truth revealed in Sacred Writ. He
embraceth cheerfully whatsoever the holy Apostles, or
the Xicene Fathers, or blessed Athanasius, in their
respective Creeds, or Summaries of Catholic Faith, did set
down as necessary to be believed. He is ready to receive
whatsoever the Catholic Church of this age doth unanim-
ously believe to be a particle of saving truth. But, if you
seek to obtrude upon him the Roman Church, with its
adherents, for the Catholic Church, — excluding three parts
of four of the Christian world from the communion of
Christ, — or the opinions thereof, for articles and funda-
mentals of Catholic Faith; neither his reason, nor bis
religion, nor his charity, will suffer him to listen unto
you. The truths received by our Church, are sufficient
in point of faith to make him a good Catholic. More than
this your Roman bishops, your Roman Church, your Tri-
dentine Council, may not, cannot, obtrude upon him.

Listen to the third general Council, that of Ephesus,
which decreed, that ' it should be lawful for no man to
publish or compose another faith' or creed ' than that
which was defined by the Nicene Council ;' and ' that who-
soever should dare to compose or offer any such to any
persons willing to be converted from paganism, Judaism,
or heresy, if they were bishops or clerks, should be de-
posed,— if laymen, anathematized.' Suffer us to enjoy
f2

66 bra:vihall.

the same creed the primitive Fathers did, ' which none will
say to have been insufficient, except they be mad,' as was
alleged by the Greeks in the Council of Florence. You
have violated this canon, you have obtruded a new creed
upon Christendom ; new, I say, not in words only, but in
sense also.

Some things are de Synibolo, some things are contra
Symholum, and some things are only prcBter Symholum.

Some things are contained in the creed, either expressly
or virtually, either in the letter or in the sense, and may
be deduced by evident consequence from the creed ; as
the Deity of Christ, His Two Natures, the Procession of
the Holy Ghost. The addition of these was properly no
addition, but an explication ; yet such an explication, no
person, no assembly under an (Ecumenical council, can
impose upon the Catholic Church. And such an one your
Tridentine Synod was not.

Secondly, some things are contra Synibolum — contrary
to the Symbolical Faith, and either expressly or virtually
overthrow some article of it. These additions are not
only unlawful, but heretical also in themselves, and after
conviction render a man a formal heretic : — whether some
of your additions be not of this nature, I will not now
dispute.

Thirdly, some things are neither of the Faith, nor
against the Faith, but only besides the Faith ; that is,
opinions or truths of an inferior nature, which are not so
necessary to be actually known : for though all revealed
truths be alike necessary to be believed when they are
known, yet all revealed truths are not alike necessary
to be known. It is not denied but that general or
provincial Councils may make constitutions concerning
these for unity and uniformity, and oblige all such as are
subject to their jurisdiction to receive them, either actively
or passively, without contumacy or opposition. But to
make these, or any of these, a part of the Creed, and to
oblige all Christians under pain of damnation to know

BRAMHALL. 67

and believe them, is really to add to the Creed, and to
change the Symbolical, Apostolical Faith, to which none can
add, from which none can take away ; and comes within
the compass of St. Paul's curse, — ' If we, or an angel
from heaven, shall preach unto you any other gospel' (or
faith) 'than that which we have preached, let him be
accursed.' Such are, your universality of the Roman
Church by the institution of Christ (to make her the
mother of her grandmother, the Church of Jerusalem, and
the mistress of her many elder sisters), your doctrine of
l~)urgatory and indulgences, and the worship of images,
and all other novelties defined in the Council of Trent; all
which are comprehended in your new Roman Creed, and
obtruded by you upon all the world to be believed under
pain of damnation. He that can extract all these out of
the old Apostolic Creed, must needs be an excellent che-
mist, and may safely undertake to ' draw water out of a
pumice.' "

In the same work we find him speaking thus of the
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

" First, you say we have renounced your sacrifice of the
Mass. If the sacrifice of the Mass be the same with the
sacrifice of the Cross> we attribute more unto it than your-
selves ; we place our whole hope of salvation in it. If you
understand another propitiatory sacrifice distinct from
that (as this of the Mass seems to be ; for confessedly the
priest is not the same, the altar is not the same, the tem-
ple is not the same); if you think of any new meritorious
satisfaction to God for the sins of the world, or of any new
supplement to the merits of Christ's passion ; you must
give us leave to renounce your sacrifice indeed, and to
adhere to the apostle ; — ' By one offering he hath perfected
for ever them that are sanctified.'

" Surely you cannot think that Christ did actually sacri-
fice Himself at His last supper (for then he had redeemed
the world at His last supper; then His subsequent sacrifice
npon the cross had been superfluous,) nor that the priest
now doth more than Christ did then. We do readily

68 BRAJMHALL.

acknowledge an Eucbaristical sacrifice of prayers and
praises : we profess a commemoration of the sacrifice of
the cross ; and in the language of holy church, things
commemorated are related as if they were then acted ;
as, — ' Almighty God, who hast given us Thy Son as this
day to be born of a pure virgin' : — and, ' Whose praise the
younger Innocents have this day set forth;' — and between
the x\scension and Pentecost, ' Which hast exalted Thy Son
Jesus Christ with great triumph into heaven, we beseech
Thee leave us not comfortless, but send unto us Thy Holy
Spirit:' we acknowledge a representation of that sacrifice
to God the Father: we acknowledge an impetration of the
benefit of it : we maintain an application of its virtue : so
here is a commemorative, impetrative, applicative sacrifice.
Speak distinctly, and 1 cannot understand what you can
desire more. To make it a suppletory sacrifice, to supply
the defects of the only tru§ sacrifice of the cross, I hope
both you and I abhor."

Another and perhaps his principal work, is "A just
vindication of the Church of England from the unjust
aspersion of criminal schism ; wdierein the nature of
criminal schism, the divers sorts of schismatics, the
liberties and privileges of national churches, the rights of
sovereign magistrates, the tyranny, extortion, and schism
of the Roman court, with the grievances, complaints, and
opposition of all princes and states of the Roman com-
munion of old, and at this very day, are manifested to
the view of the world." This was originally designed to
form an appendix to the answer to La Millitiere, and is
intended to refute the charge of schism, brought forward
by the Romanists against the Church of England. He
proves that the separation was not made by us, but by
the court of Rome, that the British Church was always
exempted from all foreign jurisdiction for the first six
hundred years, and had both sufficient authority and
sufficient grounds to withdraw from obedience to Rome.
This, indeed, is one of Bishop Bramhall's favourite topics,
and on these points he is especially strong, as an advo-

BRAMHALL. 69

cate of Anglicanism. In this treatise we find the following
pointed remarks on internal communion. : —

" The communion of the Christian Catholic Church is
partly internal, partly external.

" The internal communion consists principally in these
things : to believe the same entire substance of saving
necessary truth revealed by the Ajoostles, and to be ready
implicitly in the preparation of the mind to embrace all
other supernatural verities when they shall be sufficiently
proposed to them ; to judge charitably one of another ; to
exclude none from the Catholic communion and hope of
salvation, either eastern, or western, or southern, or north-
ern Christians, which profess the ancient Faith of the Apos-
tles and primitive Fathers, established in the first general
Councils, and comprehended in the Apostolic, Nicene, and
Athanasian Creeds; to rejoice at their well doing; to sorrow
for their sins ; to condole with them in their sufferings ;
to pray for their constant perseverance in the true Chris-
tian Faith, for their reduction from all their respective
errors, and their re-union to the Church in case they be
divided from it, that we may be all one sheepfold under
that One Great • Shepherd and Bishop of our souls;' and,
lastly, to hold an actual external communion with them
' in votis — in our desires, and to endeavour it by all those
means which are in our power. This internal communion
is of absolute necessity among all Catholics.

"External communion consists, first, in the same Creeds
or Symbols or Confessions of Faith, which are the ancient
badges or cognizances of Christianity ; secondly, in the
participation of the same sacraments ; thirdly, in the
same external worship, and frequent use of the same
Divine Offices or Liturgies or forms of serving God ;
fourthly, in the use of the same public rites and cere-
monies ; fifthly, in giving communicatory letters from one
church or one person to another; and, lastly, in admission
of the same discipline, and subjection to the same supreme
ecclesiastical authority, that is. Episcopacy, or a general
Council : for as single bishops are the heads of particular

70 BRAMHALL.

churches, so Episcopacy, that is, a general Council, or
(Ecumenical assembly of bishops, is the head of the
universal Church."

And a little after we find him stating who are Catholics,
and who are not.

" To sum up all that hath been said ; whosoever doth
preserve his obedience entire to the universal Church, and
its representative a general Council, and to all his supe-
riors in their due order, so far as by law he is obliged ;
who holds an internal communion with all Christians, and
an external communion so far as he can with a good con-
science ; who approves no reformation but that which is
made by lawful authority, upon sufiQcient grounds, with
due moderation; who derives his Christianity by the unin-
terrupted line of Apostolical succession ; who contents
himself with his proper place in the ecclesiastical body ;
who disbelieves nothing contained in Holy Scripture, and
if he hold any errors unwittingly and unwillingly, doth
implicitly renounce them by his fuller and more firm ad-
herence to that infallible rule ; who believeth and prac-
tiseth all those credenda and agenda, which the universal
Church spread over the face of the earth doth unanim-
ously believe and practise as necessary to salvation, without
condemning or censuring others of different judgment from
himself in inferior questions, without obtruding his own
opinions upon others as articles of Faith ; who is implicitly
prepared to believe and do all other speculative and prac-
tical truths, when they shall be revealed to him ; and, in
sum, ' qui sententiam diverscB opinionis vinculo non prcBponit
unitatis — 'that prefers not a subtlety or an imaginary
truth before the bond of peace ;' he may securely say,
'My name is Christian, my surname is Catholic'

" From hence it appeareth plainly, by the rule of con-
traries, who are schismatics ; whosoever doth uncharitably
make ruptures in the mystical Body of Christ, ' or sets up
altar against altar' in His Church, or withdraws his obedi-
ence from the Catholic Church, or its representative a
general Council, or from any lawful superiors, without just

BRAMHALL. 71

grounds ; whosoever doth hmit the Catholic Church unto
his own sect, excludiug all the rest of the Chnstiau world,
by new doctrines, or erroneous censures, or tyrannical
impositions ; whosoever holds not internal communion
with all Christians, and external also so far as they con-
tinue in a Catholic constitution ; whosoever, not contenting
himself v/ith his due place in the Church, doth attempt to
usurp an higher place, to the disorder and disturbance of
the whole body ; whosoever takes upon him to reform
without just authority and good grounds ; and, lastly,
Vv^hosoever doth wilfully break the line of Apostolical suc-
cession, which is the very nerves and sinews of ecclesias-
tical unity and communion, both with the present Church,
and with the Catholic Symbolical Church of all successive
ages ; he is a schismatic (qua talis), whether he be guilty
of heretical pravity or not.

"Now, having seen who are schismatics, for clearing the
state of the question whether the Church of England be
schismatical or not, it remaineth to shew in a word what
we understand by the Church of England.

First, we understand not the English natiou alone, but
the English dominion, including the British, and Scottish
or Irish, Christians : for Ireland was the right Scotia
major ; and that which is now called Scotland, was then
inhabited by British and Irish under the name of Picts
and Scots.

" Secondly, though I make not the least doubt in the
world, but that the Church of England before the Reforma-
tion and the Church of England after the Reformation are
as much the same Church, as a garden, before it is weeded
and after it is weeded, is the same garden ; or a vine,
before it be pruned and after it is pruned and freed from
the luxuriant branches, is one and the same vine ; yet,
because the Roman Catholics do not object schism to the
Popish Church of England, but to the Reformed Church,
therefore, in this question, by the Church of England we
understand that Church, which was derived by lineal suc-
cession from the British, English and Scottish bishops.

T2 BRAMHALL.

by mixed ordiDation, as it was legally established in the
days of king Edward the Sixth, and flourished in the
reigns of queen Elizabeth, king James, and king Charles
of blessed memory, and now groans under the heavy yoke
of persecution; w^hether this Church be schismatical by
reason of its secession and separation from the Church of
Rome, and the supposed withdrawing of its obedience
from the Patriarchal jurisdiction of the Roman bishop."

His replication to the Bishop of Chalcedon, Richard
Smith, first bishop of the Romish schism in this country,
was written in answ^er to that titular's " Survey of the
Vindication of the Church of England from criminous
Schism," which appeared in 1654. The replication was
printed in London in 1656. The unsold copies of this
edition w^ere bound up under a common title-page with
the new impression of 1661 of the Just Vindication. In
the dedication of this work to The Christian Reader, he
says, " no man can justly blame me for honouring my
spiritual mother the Church of England ; in whose womb
I was conceived, at whose breasts I was nourished, and in
whose bosom I hope to die. Bees, by the instinct of
nature, do love their hives, and birds their nests. But
God is my witness, that according to my uttermost talent,
and poor understanding, I have endeavoured to set down
the naked truth impartially, without either favour or pre-
judice, the two capital enemies of right judgment ; — the
one of which, like a false mirror, doth represent things
fairer and straighter than they are ; the other, like the
tongue infected with choler, makes the sweetest meats to
taste bitter. My desire hath been to have truth for my
chiefest friend, and no enemy but error. If I have had
any bias, it hath been desire of peace, which our common
Saviour left as a legacy to His Church ; that I might live
to see the re-union of Christendom, for which I shall
always bow the ' knees of my heart' to the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. It is not impossible but that this
desire of unity may have produced some unwilling error
of love, but certainly I am most free from the wulful love

BRAMHALL. 13

of error. In questions of an inferior nature Christ
regards a charitable intention much more than a right
opinion.

" Howsoever it be, I submit myself and my poor endea-
vours, first, to the judgment of the Catholic CEcumenical
essential Church : which if some of late days have endea-
voured to hiss out of the schools as a fancy, I cannot help
it. From the beginning it was not so. And if I should
mistake the right Catholic Church out of human frailty or
ignorance (which for my part I have no reason in the
world to suspect; yet it is not impossible, when the
Romanists themselves are divided into five or six several
opinions, what this Catholic Church, or what their infalli-
ble judge is), I do implicitly and in the preparation of my
mind submit myself to the true Catholic Church, the
spouse of Christ, the mother of the saints, the 'pillar of
truth.' And seeing my adherence is firmer to the infal-
lible rule of Faith, that is, the Holy Scriptures interpreted
by the Catholic Church, than to mine own private judg-
ment or opinions ; although I should unwittingly fall
into an error, yet this cordial submission is an implicit
retractation thereof, and I am confident will be so accept-
ed by the Father of Mercies, both from me and all others
who seriously and sincerely do seek after peace and
truth.

" Likewise I submit myself to the representative
Church, that is, a free general Council, or so general as
can be procured ; and until then, to the Church of Eng-
land, wherein I was baptized, or to a national English
Synod : to the determination of all which, and each of
them respectively, according to the distinct degrees of
their authority, I yield a conformity and compliance, or at
the least, and to the lowest of them, an acquiescence.'

In 1658 appeared his "Schism guarded and beaten back
upon the right Owners, shewing that our great contro-
versy about Papal Power is not a question of Faith, but of
Interest and Profit ; not with the Church of Rome but
VOL. Til. a

T4 BRAMHALL.

with the Court of Rome ; wherein the true controversy
doth consist ; who were the first Innovators ; when and
where these Papal Innovations first began in England ;
with the opposition that was made against them." It
commences with the following address to " The Chris-
tian Readers," especially to the Roman Catholics of
England : —

" Christian Reader,

" The great bustling in the controversy concerning Papal
power, or the discipline of the Church, hath been either
about the true sense of some texts of Holy Scripture ; as,
'Thou art Peter,' and, 'upon this rock will I build My
Church,' and, ' To thee will I give the keys of the king-
dom of heaven,' and ' Feed My sheep :' or about some
privileges, conferred upon the Roman See by the canons
of the Fathers, and the edicts of emperors, but pretended
by the Roman Court and the maintainors thereof to be
held by Divine right. I endeavour in this treatise to dis-
abuse thee, and to shew that this challenge of Divine
right is but a blind, or diversion, to withhold thee from
finding out the true state of the question. So the hare
makes her doubles and her jumps before she comes to her
form, to hinder tracers from finding her out.

" I demonstrate to thee, that the true controversy is not
concerning St. Peter; we have no formed difference about
St. Peter, nor about any point of Faith, but of interest and
profit ; nor with the Church of Rome, but with the Court
of Rome: and wherein it doth consist ; namely, in these
questions, — who shall confer English Bishoprics; who
shall convocate English synods ; who shall receive tenths
and first-fruits and oaths of allegiance and fidelity ; whe-
ther the Pope can make binding laws in England without
the consent of the king and kingdom, or dispense with
English laws at his own pleasure, or call English subjects
to Rome without the prince's leave, or set up legantine
courts in England against their wills. And this I shew

BEAMHALL. 75

not out of the opinions of particular authors, but out of
the pubhc laws of the kingdom.

" I prove moreover out of our fundamental laws and
the writings of our best historiographers, that all these
branches of Papal power were abuses and innovations and
usurpations, first attempted to be introduced into England
above eleven hundred years after Christ ; with the names
of the innovators, and the precise time when each innova-
tion began, and the opposition that was made against it,
by our kings, by our bishops, by our peers, by our parlia-
ments, with the groans of the kingdom under these Papal
innovations and extortions.

" Likewise, in point of doctrine, thou hast been in-
structed, that the Catholic Faith doth comprehend all those
points which are controverted between us and the Church
of Rome, without the express belief whereof no Christian
can be saved ; whereas, in truth, all these are but opinions,
yet some more dangerous than others. If none of them
had ever been started in the world, there is sufiQcient to
salvation for points to be believed in the Apostles' Creed.
Into this Apostolical Faith, professed in the Creed and ex-
plicated by the four first general Councils, and only into
this Faith, we have all been baptized. Far be it from us
to imagine, that the Catholic Church hath evermore bap-
tized, and doth still baptize, but into one half of the
Christian Faith.

" In sum. — Dost thou desire to live in the communion
of the true Catholic Church ? So do I. But as I dare not
change the cognizance of my Christianity, that is, my
Creed ; nor enlarge the Christian Faith (I mean the essen-
tials of it) beyond those bounds which the Apostles have
set ; so I dare not (to serve the interest of the Roman
Court) limit the Catholic Church, which Christ hath pur-
chased with His blood, to a fourth or a fifth part of the
Christian world.

♦' Thou art for tradition, so am I. But my tradition is
not the tradition of one particular Church contradicted by
the tradition of another Church, but the universal and

76 BRAMHALL.

perpetual tradition of the Christian ^vorld united. Such
a tradition is a full proof, -sYhich is received ' semper,
nhique, et ah omnibus — ' always, every where, and by all'
Christians. Neither do I look upon the opposition of a
handful of heretics — they are no more being compared to
the innumerable multitudes of Christians) — in one or two
ages, as inconsistent with universality, any more than the
highest mountains are inconsistent with the roundness of
of the earth.

" Thou desirest to bear the same respect to the Church
of Rome that thy ancestors did ; so do I. But for that
fulness of power, yea, co-active power in the exterior court,
over the subjects of other princes, and against their wills,
devised by the Court of Rome, not by the Church of
Rome, — it is that pernicious source from whence all these
usurpations did spring. Our ancestors from time to time
made laws against it ; and our Reformation in point of dis-
cipline, being rightly understood, was but a pui*suing of
their steps. The true controversy is, whether the bishop
of Rome ought by Divine right to have the external regi-
ment of the English Church, and co-active jurisdiction in
English courts, over English subjects, against the will of
the king and the laws of the kingdom."

From this most powerful work, in which the Anglican
cause is nobly maintained against Popery, many extracts
might be made of assertions generally as well as contro-
versially useful. We may give as an example his position
that every one involved in a schism is not a formal schis-
matic. His words are " Every one who is involved mate-
rially in a schism, is not a formal schismatic ; no more
than she that marrieth after long expectation, believing,
and having reason to believe, that her former husband
was dead, is a formal adulteress ; or than he who is drawn
to give Divine worship to a creature by some misappre-
hension, yet addressing his devotions to the true God, is
a formal idolater. A man may be ' haptisatus voto' (as
St. Ambrose said) — 'baptized in his desire,' and God
Almighty doth accept it ; why may he not as well commu-

BRAMHALL. 77

nicate in his desire, and be accepted with God likewise ?
If St. Austin sav true of heresy, that ' he who did not
run into his error out of his own overweening presumption,
nor defends it pertinaciously, but received it from his
seduced parents, and is careful to search out the truth,
and ready to be corrected if he find it out, he is not to be
reputed among heretics. ' It is much more true of schism,
that he who is involved in schism through the error of his
parents or predecessors, who seeketh carefully for the
truth, and is prepared in his mind to embrace it when-
soever he finds it, he is not to be reputed a schismatic.
This very bond of unity, and preparation of his mind to
peace, is an implicit renunciation and abjuration of his
schism before God. This is as comfortable a ground for
ignorant Roman Catholics, as for any persons that I know;
who are hurried hood-winked into erroneous tenets as
necessary points of Faith, and schismatical practices,
merely by the authority, and to uphold the interest and
ambitious or avaricious courses, of the Roman Court."

Speaking of the Thirty-nine Articles in this work, he
remarks, — "We do not suffer any man 'to reject' the
Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England ' at his
pleasure ;' yet neither do we look upon them as essentials
of saving Faith, or 'legacies of Christ and of His x\postles;'
but in a mean, as pious opinions fitted for the preservation
of unity : neither do we oblige any man to believe them,
but only not to contradict them."

In Bishop Bramhalls "The Consecration and succes-
sion of Protestant Bishops justified," the "infamous fable"
of the ordination at the Xag's Head is clearly confuted And
we may add that, in the last edition of Bramhall 's works in
the Anglo-catholic library, the editor pursues the subject,
and vindicates our ordinations against the dishonest refer-
ence to this fable on the part of modern Romanists. The
Romanists never had a more powerful opponent than this
great prelate, who opposes them entirely upon Anglican
grounds, and the member of the Church of England who
G-2

78 BRAMHALL.

should join the Romish schismatics in this country, with-
out first studying the works of Bramhall, would incur an
awful responsibility.

His works against English sectaries are of equal
vigour : — 1. Fair warning to take heed of the Scottish dis-
cipline, as being of all others most injurious to the civil
magistrate, most oppressive to the subject, most pernicious '
to both. Written in the beginning of the civil wars.
2. The Serpent salve : or, a remedy for the biting of an
asp. Written in vindication of king Charles I., wherein
the author endeavours to prove, that power is not originally
inherent in, and derived from, the people. First printed
in 1643, and was his first publication. 3. Vindication of
himself and the Episcopal Clergy from the Presbyterian
charge of Popery, as it is managed by Mr. Baxter in his
treatise of the Grotian religion.

There are several publications of BramhalFs against
Mr. Hobbes. — 1. A Defence of true liberty from an-
tecedent and extrinsical necessity. Printed in 1656.
2. Castigations of Mr. Hobbes's animadversions upon the
same, in 1658. 3. The Catching of Leviathan, or the
great whale. Demonstrating out of Mr. Hobbes's own
works, that no man, who is thoroughly an Hobbist, can be
a good Christian, or a good commonwealth's man, or
reconcile himself to himself: because his principles are
not only destructive to all religion, but to all societies,
extinguishing the relation between prince and subject,
parent and child, master and servant, husband and wife;
and abound with palpable contradictions.

The controversy between Bramhall and Hobbes,
which gave occasion to the foregoing works, took its rise
from a conversation, that passed between them at an
accidental meeting, in 1645, at the house of the Marquis
of Newcastle in Paris. It appears from the works them-
selves, that the Bishop subsequently committed his
thoughts upon the subject to writing, and transmitted
hi? " discourse" through the Marquis to Hobbes. This

BRAMHALL. 79

called forth an answer from the latter, in a letter addressed
to the Marquis (dated Rouen, Aug. 20, 1645), to be com-
municated " only to my Lord Bishop ;" to which Bramhall
replied in a second paper, not however until the middle of
the following year, and privately as before. Here the
controversy rested for more than eight years, having been
hitherto carried on with perfect courtesy on both sides.
In 1654, however, a friend of Hobbes procured without
his knowledge a copy of his letter, and published it in
London with Hobbes' name, but with the erroneous date
of 1652 for 1645 ; upon which Bramhall, finding himself
thus deceived, rejoined in the next year by the publication
of the " Defence, &c." (Lond. 1655. 8vo.) consisting of his
own original " discourse," of Hobbes' answer, and of his
own re]>ly, printed sentence by sentence, with a dedication
to the Marquis of Newcastle, and an advertisement to the
reader explaining the circumstances under which it was
published.

The fourth part of the folio edition of Bi-amhall's works
contains his smaller pieces and occasional sermons. From
these we present the reader with the bishop's opinion " of
persons dying without baptism :"

" The discourse which happened the other day, about
your little daughter, I had quite forgotten till you were
pleased to mention it again last night. If any thing did
fall from me, which gave offence to any there present, I
am right sorrowful, but I hope there did not ; as, on the
other side, if any occasion of offence had been given to
me, I should readily have sacrificed it to that reverend
respect, which is due to the place your table, anciently
accounted a sacred thing, and to the lord of it, yourself.
This morning, lying musing in my bed, it produced some
trouble to me, to consider how passionately we are all
wedded to our own parties, and how apt w^e are all to
censure the opinions of others before we understand them,
while our want of charity is a gi-eater error in ourselves,
and more displeasing to Almighty God, than any of those
supposed assertions which we condemn in others; espe-

80 BRAMHALL.

cially when they come to be rightly understood. And to
show this particular breach is not so wide, nor the more
moderate of either party so disagreeing, as is imagined, I
digested these sudden meditations, drawn wholly, in a
manner, from the grounds of the Roman schools ; and so
soon as I was risen, I committed them to writing.

" First, there is a great difference to be made between
the sole want of Baptism upon invincible necessity, and
the contempt or wilful neglect of Baptism when it may be
had. The latter we acknowledge to be a damnable sin,
and, without repentance and God's extraordinaiy mercy,
to exclude a man from all hope of salvation. But yet if
such a person, before his death, shall repent and deplore
his neglect of the means of grace, from his heart, and
desire, with all his soul, to be baptized, but is debarred
from it invincibly, we do not, w^e dare not pass sentence of
condemnation upon him ; nor yet the Roman Catholics
themselves. The question then is, whether the want of
Baptism, upon invincible necessity, do evermore infallibly
exclude from heaven ?

"Secondly, we distinguish between the visible sign, and
the invisible grace ; between the exterior sacramental
ablution, and the grace of the Sacrament, that is, interior
Regeneration. We believe that whosoever hath the former,
hath the latter also, so that he do not put a bar against
the efficacy of the Sacrament by his infidelity or hypocrisy,
of which a child is not capable. And therefore our very
Liturgy doth teach, that a child baptized, dying before
the commission of actual sin, is undoubtedly saved.

" Thirdly, we believe that without baptismal grace, that
is, Regeneration, no man can enter into the kingdom of
God. But whether God hath so tied and bound himself
to His ordinances and Sacraments that He doth not or
cannot confer the grace of the Sacraments, extraordinarily,
where it seemeth good to His eyes, without the outward
element ; this is the question between us."

It is said that he prepared a hundred sermons for the
press, but that they were torn by rats before his death.

BRAMHALL. 81

At the Restoration, eveiy one, of course, concluded that
Bishop Bramhall would be nominated to that high post in
the Church, which his learning, his genius, and his piety
so eminently qualified him to occupy. On the 18th of
January, 1601, he was translated to the archiepiscopal see
of Armagh, and became Lord Primate of Ireland. How
acceptable this nomination of Bishop Bramhall was to the
friends of the Church, appears from the following letter of
congratulation, which was addressed by Lord Caulfield,
aftei'wards known by the honourable epithet of the good
Lord Charlemont, to the new Primate, on the 2'^nd of
October, 1660.

*' As the news of your lordship's safe arrival is most
welcome to me, so is it likewise occasion of great re-
joicing to all those in the kingdom who truly fear
God and pray for the welfare of His Church : it being
yet fresh in the memories of us all, how eminent an
instniment your lordship hath been long since in the
propagating the true ancient Protestant religion in this
kingdom.

" My lord, never had the Church more need of such a
champion than now tliat the looseness of the late times
hath been the occasion of so many schisms, and given
opportunity to such numberless number of heresies to
creep in amongst us, that not many days ago it was
hardly possible to find two of one religion. And therein
are these unhappy northern quarters most miserable,
abounding with all sorts of licentious persons ; but those
whom we esteem most dangerous are the Presbyterian
factions, who do not like publicly to preach up the
authority of the kirk to be above that of the crown and
our dread sovereign. I have myself discoursed with
divers of their ministers, both in public and private,
who have maintained that the kirk hath power to excom-
municate their kings ; and when the oaths of allegiance
and supremacy were administered here, one of them told
me that we had pulled down one Pope and set up another.
But I made bold to inflict such punishments as I thought

82 BRAMHALL.

were proper for their offences ; and hindered their meet-
ings where I considered there might be anything con-
sulted of, tending to the breach of the peace, either in
Church or commonwealth."

Soon after he consecrated two archbishops and ten
bishops for the vacant sees in Ireland, and among these
was the celebrated Jeremy Taylor. The consecration, at the
same time, and by imposition of the same hands, of twelve
Christian bishops, two of the number being of metro-
politan eminence, to their apostolical superintendence of
the Church of Christ, is an event probably without a
parallel in the Church. The event, and its consequences,
with reference to the illustrious Primate engaged in the
consecration, is thus noticed by Bishop Taylor in his ser-
mon preached at the funeral of Archbishop Bramhall in
the year 1663. " There are gi'eat things spoken of his
predecessor, St. Patrick, that he founded seven hundred
churches and religious convents ; that he ordained five
thousand priests ; and with his own hands consecrated
three hundred and fifty bishops. How true the story is I
know not ; but we were all witnesses that the late Primate,
whose memory we now celebrate, did by an extraordinary
contingency of Providence, in one day, consecrate two
archbishops and ten bishops ; and did benefit to almost all
the churches of Ireland ; and was greatly instrumental in
the re-endowments of the whole clergy; and in the greatest
abilities and incomparable industry was inferior to none
of his antecessors."

The same year he visited his diocese, which he found
in the greatest disorder, some having committed horrible
outrages, and many imbibed violent prejudices both
against himself, and the doctrine and discipline of the
Church. By lenity and firmness, reproof, argument, and
persuasion, he at last gained the point at which he
aimed.

Bishop Mant, in his history of the Church of Ireland,
quotes a passage from Archbishop Vesey's life of Arch-
bishop Bramhall, and explains it : the passage, and the

BPtAMHALL. 83

explanation, which appears to be perfectly satisfactory, we
submit to the reader.

"When the benefices were called at the visitation, seve-
ral appeared, and exhibited only such titles as they had
received from the late powers. He told them, they w-ere
no legal titles ; but m regard he heard well of them, he
w^as willing to make such to them by institution and
induction, which they humbly acknowledged, and intreated
his lordship so to do. But, desiring to see their letteis
of orders, some had no other but their certificates of ordi-
nation by some Pivsbyterian classes, which, he told them,
did not qualify them for any preferment in the Church.
Whereupon the question imraediatrly arose, ' Are we not
ministers of the Gospel?' To which his grace answered,
that that was not the question : at least he desired for
peace sake, of which he hoped they were ministers too,
that that might not be the question for that time. ' I
dispute not,' said he, ' the value of your ordination,
nor those acts you have exercised by virtue of it : what
you are, or might do, here when there was no law, or in
other Churches abroad. But we are now to consider our-
selves as a National Church, limited by law% which among
other things takes chief care to prescribe about ordination ;
and I do not know, how you could recover the means of
the Church, if any should refuse to pay you your tithes,
if you are not ordained, as the law of this Church requi-
reth. And I am desirous, that she may have your labours,
and you such portions of her revenue, as shall be allotted
you in a legal and assured way.' By this means he
gained such as were learned and sober ; and for the rest it
was not much matter,"

"Just as I was about to close up this particular," con-
tinues the biogi'apher, " I received full assurance of all
that I offered in it, which for the reader's sake I thought
fit to add, being the very words which his grace caused to
be inserted in the letters of one Mr. Edward Parkinson,
whom he ordained at that time, and from whom I had
them by my reverend brother and neighbour, the Lord

84 BRAMHALL.

Bishop of Killalow. ' Non annihilantes priores ordines,
(si quos habuit,) uec validitalem aut invaliditatem eorum
determinantes, multo minus omnes ordines sacros eccle-
siarum forensicarum condemnantes, quos proprio judici
relinquimus : sed solummodo supplentes, quicquid phus
defuit, per Canones Ecclesiae Anglicanae requisitum ; et
providentes paci ecclesise, ut schismatis tollatur occasio, et
conscientiis fidelium satisfiat, nee uUo modo dubitent de
ejus ordinatione, aut actus suos Presbyteriales tanquam
invalidos aversentur : in cujus rei testimonium, &c."

From this statement and document, says Bishop Mant,
the reader will understand, that, on admitting to episcopal
orders a person who had been previously ordained by
Presbyterians, Primate Bramhall made profession, "that
he did not annul the minister's former orders, if he had
any, nor determine their validity or invalidity ; much less
did he condemn all the sacred orders of the foreign
Churches, whom he left to their own Judge : but that he
only supplied, whatever was before w^anting, as required
by the canons of the Anglican Church ; and that he pro-
vided for the peace of the Church, that occasion of schism
might be removed, and the consciences of the faithful
satisfied, and that they might have no manner of doubt
of his ordination, nor decline his presbyterial acts as being
invalid." And this profession the primate inserted in the
newly-ordained minister s " letters," his letters of orders,
as they are technically called ; being the regular certifi-
cate, or formal official testimonial, which every clergyman
of the Church receives, of his having been lawfully
ordained.

It is, therefore, not a little remarkable, that this
account should have been taken by a respectable historian
of the Church of England, as the ground for an assertion,
that, with regard to any ministers w^ho had received Pres-
byterian orders in the confusion of the great Rebellion,
the method, employed by Archbishop Bramhall, was, not
to. cause them to " undergo a new ordination, but to
admit them into the ministry of the Church, by a

BRx\MHALL. 85

conditional ordination, as we do in the baptism of those,
of whom it is uncertain, whether thej are baptized
or not."

But this assertion is not supported by the statement of
Bishop Vesey, and the document alleged by him : on the
contrary it is directly opposed to both. For they give
us to understand, that the archbishop did " ordain'" the
persons in question, " as the law of this Church re-
quireth ;" therefore not conditionally, for the law of this
Church recognises no conditional ordination : but that
subsequently he introduced into his " letters" of orders an
explanatory remark. The historian seems to identify the
form of ordination with the subsequent letters of orders,
or certificate. But, whatever be the cause, the error is
manifest : and it requires correction, both that the
character of such a man, as Primate Bramhall, may be
vindicated from the allegation, and even from the suspi-
cion, of illegally deviating from the prescript forms of the
Church, whereas he acted professedly and strictly, " as the
law of the Church requireth ;" and that the principles
and provisions of the Church herself may not be misappre-
hended, in a matter of such infinite importance as the
due ordination of candidates for the sacred ministry.

He was officially president of the Convocation, and was
chosen speaker of the House of Lords, in the parliament
which met May 8th, 1661. On the 31st of May, 1661,
the Irish House of Commons adopted a course, to propose
which in the present House of Commons would be deemed
a mark of insanity : the Master of the Wards reported
to the house, that according to their order he had waited
on the Lord Primate with an intimation of their request,
that the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper might be
administered to them by his hands ; that he had accord-
ingly appointed the Sabbath Day next come fortnight for
the celebration at St. Patrick's Church, according to the
Liturgy of the Church of Ireland, and the Friday before
for a preparatory sermon between nine and ten in the

VOL. III. H

86 BRAMHALL.

morning. The subject of the sermon, delivered in pur-
suance of this appointment, was the duty of repentance,
as testified by the forsaking and amendment of former
sins. By order of the house, on the 17th of June, thanks
were returned to his grace for his great pains on the
occasion, with a request that he would cause the sermon
to be printed, which was in consequence done, and the
sermon remains amongst his works under the title of
" The right ivay to safety after Shijywreck.''

On the 18th of June, an order was entered on the
journals of the House of Lords, and a corresponding one
on those of the Commons, the 15th of July.

" That such matters as may seem to be intrench ments
on the honour, worth, and integrity of Thomas Earl of
Strafford, the Lord Primate, the Lord Chancellor Bolton,
and the Lord Chief Justice Lowther, whose memory this
house cannot in justice suffer to be sullied with the least
stain of evil report, be totally and absolutely expunged
and obliterated from the journals and records of the
house."

In this parliament '' many advantages were procured^
and more designed, for the Church, in which Archbishop
Bramhall was very industrious. Several of the bishops
obtained their augmentations through his intercession ; as
likewise the inferior clergy the forfeited impropriate tithes;
and the whole Church all the advantageous clauses in the
acts of settlement and explanation," [although she did not
reap the benefit of them to the full extent that w^as in-
tended.] " There were two bills, for the passing of
which he took great pains, but was defeated in both :" one
was, " for making the tithing-table of Ulster the rule for
the whole kingdom :" the other, "for enabling the bishops
to make leases for sixty years." About this time he had
a violent sickness, being the second fit of a palsy, which
was very near putting an end to his life ; but he recovered.
" Before his death, he was intent upon a royal visitation,
in- order to the correction of some disorders he had

BKAMHALL. 87

o\)served, and the better settlement of ministers upon
their cures," by a more convenient distribution or union
of parishes, and the building of churches : but he could
not put this and some other designs he had formed in
execution. A little before his death he visited his diocese,
and having provided for the repair of his cathedral, and
other affairs suitable to his pastoral office, he returned to
Dublin about the middle of May, 1663. The latter end
of the month follo\ving, he was seized with the third fit of
the palsy, which quickly put an end to his life.

We may conclude this article by a few sentences from
one whom it is always a pleasure to quote, Jeremy Taylor,-
in his sermon preachciJ at Bramhall's funeral he tells us :
" At his coming to the Primacy, he knew h^ should
first espy little besides the ruins of discipline, a harvest of
thorns and heresies prevailing in the hearts of the people,
the churches possessed by wolves and intruders, men's
hearts greatly estranged from true religion ; and, there-
fore, he set himself to weed the fields of tlie Church. He
treated the adversaries sometimes sweetly, sometimes he
■confuted them learnedly, sometimes he rebuked them
shai'ply. He visited his charges diligently, and in his
own person, not by proxies and instrumental deputations.
He designed nothing that we knew- of, but the redintegra-
tion of religion, the honour of God and the King, the
restoring of collapsed discipline, and the renovation of
faith and the service of God in the churches. And still
he was indefatigable ; and, even at the last scene of his

life, intended to undertake a regal visitation

" Upon a brisk alarm of death, which God sent him
the last Januaiy, he gave thanks that God had permitted
him to live to see the blessed restoration of his majesty
and the Church of England, confessed his faith to be the
same as ever, gave praises to God that he was bora and
bred up in this religion, and prayed to God, and hoped
he should die in the communion of this Church, w^hich
he declared to be the most pure and Apostolical Church
in the whole world

88 BRAMHALL.

" To sum up all, he was a wise prelate, a learned doctor,
a just man, a true friend, a great benefactor to others, a
thankful beneficiary where he was obliged himself. He
was a faithful servant to his masters, a loyal subject to
the king, a zealous assertor of his religion, against Popery
on one side and fanaticism on the other. The practice of
his religion was not so much in forms and exterior
ministeries, although he was a great obsei^er of all the
public rites and ministeries of the Church, as it was in
doing good to others

" He was a man of great business and great resort. He
divided his life into labour and his book. He took care
of his churches, when he w^as alive, and even after his
death, having left five hundred pounds for the repair of
his cathedral of Armagh, and St. Peter's church in
Drogheda. He was an excellent scholar, and rarely well
accomplished ; first instructed to great excellency by
natural parts, and then consummated by study and
experience

" It will be hard to find his equal in all things. For
in him were visible the great lines of Hooker's judicious-
ness, of Jewel's learning, of the acuteness of Bishop

Andrewes He showed his equanimity in poverty,

and his justice in riches : he was useful in his country,

and profitable in his banishment He

received public thanks from the Convocation, of which
he was president, and public justification from the
Parliament, where he was speaker ; so that, although
no man had greater enemies, no man had greater jus-
tifications."

His works were collected and reprinted at Dublin, in
one volume, folio, in 1674-7. A beautiful edition has
lately formed part of the Anglo- Catholic Library. — Life
prefixed to Works hy Archbishop Vesey. Funeral Seimon.
by Jeremy Taylor. Ware's Coniment. de Prccsul. Hibernice.
Mant's History of the Church in Ireland. Bramhall's
Works.

BRANDT. ^f^

BEANDT, GERAED.

Gekird Brandt was bom at Amsterdam in 16'26. He
became the pastor of a congregatioD of RemoDStrants, or
Arminians, at Nieukoop, where he married the daughter
of Gaspard Barloeus, who is well known for the excellence
of his Latin poetry. In 1667 he settled at Amsterdam,
and died there in 1685. His works are — 1. A short
History of the Reformation, and of the War between Spain
and the Netherlands, 1658. 2. A History of the Refor-
mation in the Low Countries, 4 vols, 4to. This has been
translated into English, in 4 vols, folio ; and an abridg-
ment of it has also been published in 2 vols, 8vo. 3. The
History of Enkhuysen. 4. The Life of Admiral de
Ruyter, folio. 5. An Historical Diary, with Biographical
Notices of Eminent Men, 4to. 6. Poemata, 2 vols, Svo.
7. Historia judicii habiti annis 1618 et 1619; de tribus
captivis Bameveldt, Hogerbeets et Grotio, 4to. — Moreri.

BRANDT, GASPARD.

Gaspard Brandt, eldest son of the preceding, was born
in 1653, at Nieukoop, and educated under Limborch. In
1673 he was licensed to the ministiy, which ofiQce he
discharged at several places, and lastly at Amsterdam,
where he died in 1696. He published some religious
pieces in German, and the lives of Arminius and
Grotius ; the last were re-published by Mosheim, in
1725, Svo. — Moreri

BRANDT, GERARD.

Gerard Brandt, second son of Gerard, and brother of

the preceding, was born in 1657. He was instructed in

philosophy and divinity by Limborch. He exercised the

ministry at Rotterdam, and died there in 1683. He

' h2

90 BRENTZ.

translated Hejlyn's Quinqu articular History from the
English into German ; besides which he was the author
of a History of Public Events in Europe ; and sixty-five
Sermons. — Moreri.

BRANDT, JOHN.

John Brandt, the youngest son of Gerard, was born at
Nieukoop, in 1660. He was successively minister at
Hoorn, the Hague, and iVmsterdam, where he died in
1708. His works are— 1. The Life of St. Paul, 4to.
2. A Funeral Oration on Mary, Queen of England. 3. A
Treatise against Leydecker. He also edited the "Clarorum
virorum Epistolae." — Moreri.

BRAULIO.

Beaulio w^as Bishop of Saragossa in the 7th century,
and was the friend of Isidore, Bishop of Seville, to whom
he addressed two letters. He made an encomium upon
Isidore, containing a catalogue of his works, in which he
informs us that he himself completed and arranged that
father s etymological treatise, entitled Origines. He also
wrote a life of (Emilianus, a Spanish hermit, commonly
called St. Milan. The life of St. Leocadia is also attributed
to him. He assisted at the fourth, fifth, and sixth councils
of Toledo. In a treatise of Isidore, entitled, De Claris
praesertim Hispanise Scriptoribus, published by Scholt, at
Toledo, in 1592, there are some pieces by Braulio. His
Epistles and Encomium are extant in Isidore's works.
He died in the year 646, having been a bishop twenty
years. — Dupin. Isidores Works. Mahillon.

BRENTZ, OR BRENTIUS.

Brentz, or Brentius was born at Weil in Suabia, in
1499. He was educated at the school and university of

BREXTZ. 91

Heidelberg. His application was unequalled. He was
accustomed to rise at midnight for study, and this custom
had become so confirmed, that in after life he could never
sleep after that hour. Martin Luther had now appeared
as an author, and his works were perused with juvenile
enthusiasm by young Brentz, whose joy was indescribably
great when he had an opportunity of hearing him preach
at Heidelberg. One of Luther's paradoxes especially
struck the youth. It was this, "that man is not justified
in the sight of God who does many works ; but he who
without having done any works, has much faith in Christ."
He visited Luther, talked and conferred with him, and
requested an explanation of what he did not understand.
This naturally led to his becoming a confirmed Lutheran,
After Luther's departure, he and others began to teach
Lutheranism in Heidelberg. Brentz, though a very
young man, undertook to expound St. Matthew's Gospel,
at first in his own room, and afterwards, when that apart-
ment was too small, in the Hall of Philosophy. The
theologians were, of course, ofiended at this proceeding,
as he acted without authority, and shewed symptoms of
irritation at the concourse of hearers which the young man
drew together. The heads of the university sought to
silence him. But Brentz took orders, and then transferred
his lecture to the College of the Canons of the Holy Ghost.
He now became a popular preacher, and was chosen pastor
at Halle, in the twenty-third year of his age. We find
him afterwards attending a Protestant conference, for the
purpose of reconciling the contention between Luther and
Zuinglius, respecting the real presence, the latter doctrine
being held by the Protestants generally. In 1530, he
attended the diet of Augsburg, and took a share in the
proceedings of that assembly. In 1534 he was invited by
Ulric, prince of Wirtemberg, to undertake the direction of
the university of Tubingen, conjointly with Camerarius,
and to introduce the reformed religion. In 1547, while
at Halle, he was obliged to conceal himself from the
imperial forces, in consequence of a threat on the part of

92 BRETT.

Charles V. that he would destroy the city if Brentz were
not given up to him. Letters were found in which Brentz
contrary to the doctrines of the Christian religion, had
exhorted the Protestant princes to take up arms against
the emperor. Brentz, however, effected his escape in
disguise, and wandered as a fugitive from place to place.
His great solace at this time was the book of Psalms,
which he said afterwards that no one could fully compre-
hend, except under circumstances similar to his own. In
1553, Christopher, Prince of Wirtemberg, son and suc-
cessor of Ulric, afforded him an asylum in his castle at
Stutgard. Here, at the prince's request, he drew up the
Confession of Wirtemberg ; and shortly after, on the
death of the pastor of that place, Brentz was appointed to
succeed him. In 1557 he attended the conferences at
Worms, and died at Stutgard, Sept. II, 1570. His
opinions nearly coincided with those of Luther ; he held
the ubiquity of the body of Jesus Christ, and hence he
and his followers have been denominated Ubiquitarians.
His works were first published at Tubingen, 1576 — 1590,
in 8 vols, folio, and at Amsterdam, in 1666. — Melchior
Adam. Fuller. Milner. D'AuUgny.

BRETT, THOMAS.

Thomas Brett was born at Bettishanger in Kent, on
the 3rd of September, 1667. He was sent to the grammar
school of Wye, in that county, where his father resided,
whence he proceeded to Queen's College, Cambridge,
where he took his first degree, and then removed to
Corpus Christi, January 17, 1689, where he proceeded
LL. B. on St. Barnabas' day following, and did not
at that time hesitate to take the oath of allegiance
to William and Mary ; his father, and other relations,
who were accounted whigs, ha\ing brought him up in
whig principles. He was ordained deacon, Dec. 21. 1690,
when he undertook the cure of Folkstone for a twelve-

BRETT. 93

month ; after which he came to London, entered into
priests orders, and was chosen lecturer of Ishngton
Oct. 4, 169-^.

Upon his fathers death, at the earnest sohcitation of
his mother, he left Islington with some reluctance, and in
May, 1696, took upon him the cure of Great-Chart, where
he became acquainted with the family of Sir Nicholas
Toke, whose daughter he married. In the following year
he took the degree of LL.D., as a member of Queen's,
and soon after entered upon the cure of Wye, but had no
benefice of his own before April 1"2, 1703, when, upon the
death of his uncle, who was rector of Bettishanger, he was
instituted to that living. Archbishop Tenison made him
an offer of the vicarage of Chislet, and soon after gave
him also the rectory of Rucking, April 12, 1705. But
although he had up to this time complied with the oaths,
he began to have his scruples, which were strengthened
by the representations and reasonings of Bishop Hickes,
who urged upon him the necessity of refraining from all
communion with the Church established, on the ground
of the danger and sin of schism. On this he had recourse
to Mr. Dodwell's tracts on that subject, whose arguments
not satisfying his mind, he resolved to surrender himself
up to the bishop, and he was accordingly received into his
communion, July 1, 1715, according to a penitential form
prepared especially for such occasions. The year after he
was consecrated a bishop. He had sacrificed nobly all his
worldly interests and prospects to his principles, and
whatever may be thought of his principles, he must be
honoured for the consistency of his conduct. He had now
no living to support him ; no Church open to him, but
was accustomed, like many other Nonjurors, to officiate
privately in his own house. His literary labours were
very numerous, and all of them were distinguished for
great ability and extensive learning. Brett was once pre-
sented at the assizes for holding a conventicle in his
house : but an Act of Indemnity rescued him from the
penalties. He afterwards spent his time between Fever-

94 BRETT.

sham and Canterbury, in which places he had congrega*
tions. Unquestionably the Nonjurors made a wise and
judicious choice in selecting Brett as a bishop. The
choice was made probably at the desire of Hickes, though
he died before the consecration.

Bishop Brett soon became an active member of the
Nonjuring communion; and among the late venerable
Bishop Jolly's papers, we have a most interesting account
of the correspondence between the Nonjurors and the Pa-
triarchs of the Oriental Church, drawn up by Brett himself
some few years after the scheme had failed. It has been
published by Mr. Lathbury in his valuable History of the
Nonjurors. The scheme alluded to was first thought of
in 1716, when Arsenius, an Archbishop of the Eastern
Church, was in London soliciting assistance for his
afflicted brethren in Alexandria. Campbell, one of the
Scottish Bishops, became acquainted with the Archbishop :
" and," as Skinner says, " having a scheming turn for
every thing which he thought of general usefulness to the
Church, took occasion in conversation to hint something
of this kind." Campbell mentioned the matter to his
friends at a meeting. At first all were united : but the
disputes respecting the usages having arisen, Spinkes,
though he had previously translated their proposals
into Greek, together with Hawes and Gandy, declined
to proceed any further in the business, which was subse-
quently carried on by Collier, Brett, and Griffin, with the
Scottish Bishops Campbell and Gadderer.

The statement of Bishop Brett is as follows : — " In the
month of July, 1716, the Bishops called Nonjurors meet-
ing about some affairs relating to their little Church,
Mr. Campbell took occasion to speak of the Archbishop of
Thebais then in London ; and proposed that we should
endeavour a union with the Greek Church, and draw up
some propositions in order thereto, and deliver them to
that Archbishop, with whom he intimated, as if he had
already had some discourse upon that subject. I was then
a perfect stranger to the doctrines and forms of worship

BRETT. 95

of that Church, but as I wished most heartily for a gene-
ral union of all Christians in one communion, 1 was
ready to have joined with Mr. Campbell on this occasion.
But Mr. Lawrence being in the room, drew me aside, and
told me, that the Greeks were more corrupt and more
bigoted than the Romanists, and therefore vehemently
pressed me not to be concerned in the affair : but Mr.
Collier, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Spinkes joined in it, and drew
up proposals, which Mr. Spinkes (as Mr. Campbell in-
formed me) put into Greek, and they went together and
delivered them to the Archbishop of Thebais, who carried
them to Moscovy, and engaged the Czar in the affair,
and they were encouraged to write to his majesty on that
occasion, who heartily espoused the matter, and sent the
proposals by James, Proto-Cyncellus to the Patriarch
of Alexandria, to be communicated to the four Eastern
Patriarchs. Before the return of the Patriarchs' answer to
the proposals, a breach of communion happened among
the Nonjurors here, Mr. Hawes, Mr. Spinkes, and Mr.
Gandy on the one side, and Mr. Collier, Mr. Campbell,
Mr. Gadderer, and myself on the other. So that when
the Patriarchs' answer came to London, in 17^2, Mr.
Spinkes refused to be any further concerned in the
affair, and Mr. Gadderer and I joined in it. After Mr.
Gadderer went to Scotland, Mr. Griffin, being consulted,
joined with us. The rest of the story relating to this
matter may be gathered from the letters and the sub-
scriptions to them. Mr. Collier subscribes Jeremias,
Mr. Campbell Archibaldus, Mr. Gadderer Jacobus, and I,
Thomas,

Sic Sub. Thomas Brett."
March 30th, 1728.

"A Proposal for a concordate between the orthodox and
Catholic remnant of the British Churches, and the Catho-
lic and Apostolic Oriental Church.

" 1. That the Church of Jerusalem be acknowledged as
the true mother Church and principal of ecclesiastical

96 BRETT.

unity, whence all the other Churches have heen derived,
and to which, therefore, they owe a peculiar regard.

"2. That a principality of Order be in consequence
hereof allowed to the Bishop of Jerusalem above all other
Christian Bishops.

" 3. That the Churches of Antioch, Alexandria, and
Constantinople, with the Bishops thereof, his colleagues,
be recognized as to all their ancient canonical rites, privi-
leges, and pre-eminences.

" 4. That to the Bishop and Patriarch of Constanti-
nople in particular an equality of honour with that of the
Bishop of Rome be given, and that the very same powers
and privileges be acknowledged to reside in them both
alike.

" 5. That the Catholic remnant of the British
Churches, acknowledging that they first received their
Christianity from such as came forth from the Church of
Jerusalem, before they were subject to the Bishop of
Rome and that Church, and professing the same holy
Catholic faith, delivered by the Apostles, and explained in
the councils of Nice, and Constantinople, be reciprocally
acknowledged as part of the Catholic Church in com-
munion with the Apostles, with the holy fathers of these
councils, and with their successors.

" 6. That the said Catholic remnant shall thereupon
oblige themselves to revive what they long professed to
wish for, the ancient godly discipline of the Church, and
which they have already actually began to restore.

"7. That in order still to a nearer union, there be as
near a conformity in worship established as is consistent
with the different circumstances and customs of nations,
and with the rites of particular Churches, in that case
allowed of.

"■ 8. That the most ancient English Liturgy, as more
near approaching the manner of the Oriental Church, be
in the first place restored, with such proper additions and
alterations, as may be agreed on to render it still more
conformable both to that and the primitive standard.

BRETT. 97

•'9. That several of the Homilies of St. Chrysostom,
and other approved Fathers of the said Oriental Church
be forthwith translated into English and read in our
holy assemblies.

"10. That in the public worship, when prayer is made for
the Catholic Church, there be an express commemoration
made of the Bishop of Jerusalem, and that, especially in
the Communion Service, prayer be offered up for him and
the other Patriarchs, with all the Bishops of the same
communion, and for the deliverance and restoration of the
whole Oriental Church.

"11. That the faithful and orthodox remnant of the
Britannic Church is to be also, by the said Oriental Church,
on proper occasions, or on certain days publicly commemo-
rated and prayed for.

"12. That there be letters communicatory settled betwixt
one and the other, and the acts and deeds on both sides
be mutually confirmed.

" Wherefore in order to establish such a concordate,
until that a firm and perfect union can be fixed, the suf-
fering Catholic Bishops of the old constitution of Great
Britain have thought fit hereby to declare, wherein they
agree and wherein they cannot come to a perfect agree-
ment.

" ] . They agree in the twelve Articles of the Creed as
delivered in the first and second General Councils, which
they take to be sufiGlcient for faith, and thereupon cannot
agree with the Latin Church, which hath superadded
thereto twelve other articles of faith.

" 2. They agree in beheving the Holy Ghost to be con-
substantial with the Father and the Son, according to the
orthodox confession of the Oriental Church; and moreover,
that the Father is properly the fountain and original
whence the Holy Ghost proceedeth ; and that it is altoge-
ther sufficient for salvation to believe herein what Christ
Himself hath taught.

" 3. They agree that the Holy Ghost is sent forth by

VOL. Til. I

98 BRETT.

the Son from the Father, and when they say in any of
their confessions, that He is sent forth or proceedeth from
the Son, they mean no more than what is, and always
has been confessed by the Oriental Church, i. e. from the
Father by the Son.

"4. They agree, that the Holy Ghost did truly speak
by the prophets and apostles, and is the genuine author
of all the Scriptures.

"5. They agree, that the Holy Ghost assisteth the
Church in judging rightly concerning matters of faith,
and that both general and particular orthodox councils,
convened after the example of the first council of Jeru-
salem, may reasonably expect that assistance in their
resolutions.

"6. They agree, in the number and nature of the
charismata of the Spirit.

" 7. They agree, that there is no other foundation of
the Church but Christ alone, and that the prophets and
apostles are no otherwise to be called so, but in a less
proper and secondary sense respectively only.

" 8. They agree that Christ alone is the head of the
Church, which title ought not therefore to be assumed by
any one, much less by any secular power, how great
soever, and that Bishops under Him have a vicarious head-
ship, as His proper representatives and vicegerents, being
thence subject in spirituals to no temporal power on earth :
and in consequence hereof they hope the patriarchs of the
Oriental Church will be pleased, by an express article, to
signify, that they own the independency of the Church in
spirituals upon all lay powers, and consequently declare
against all lay deprivations.

" 9. They agree, that every Christian ought to be subject
to the Church, and that the Church is by Christ suffi-
ciently instructed and authorized to examine the writings
and censure the persons of her subjects or ministers,
though never so great.

/' 10. They agree, that the Sacrament of the body and

BRETT. m

blood of Christ ought to be administered to the failhfvil in
both kinds, and that the Latin Church have transgressed
the Institution of Christ by restraining from the laity one
kind.

"11. They agree, that Baptism and this are of general
necessity to salvation, for all the faithful, and that the
other holy mysteries instituted by Christ, or appointed by
His Apostles, which are not so generally necessary unto
all, ought nevertheless to be received and celebrated with
due reverence, according to Catholic and immemorial
practice.

"12. They agree, that there is no proper purgatorial
fire in the future state, for the purgation of souls, nor
consequently any redemption of souls out of the fire of
purgatory by the suffrages of the living : but that notwith-
standing none do immediately ascend into the heaven of
heavens, but do remain until the resurrection in certain
inferior mansions, appropriated to them, waiting in hope
for the revelation of that day, and joining in the prayers
and praises of the militant Church upon earth, offered up
in faith."

"As to the points wherein they cannot, at present, per-
fectly agree, they declare.

" 1. They have a great reverence for the canons of
ancient general councils, yet they allow them not the same
authority as is due to the sacred text, and think, they
may be dispensed with by the governors of the Church,
where charity or necessity require.

" 2. Though they call the mother of our Lord blessed,
and magnify the grace of God, which so highly exalted
her, yet are they afraid of giving the glory of God to
a creature, or to run into any extreme by blessing and
magnifying her, and do hence rather choose to bless and
magnify God, for the high grace and honour conferred
upon her, and for the benefits which we receive by that
means.

"3. Though they believe that both saints and angels
have joy in the conversion of one sinner, and in the pro-

100 BRETT.

gress of a Christian, and do unite with us in our prayers
and thanksgivings, when rightly offered to God in the
communion of the Church : yet are they jealous of detract-
ing from the mediation of Jesus Christ, and therefore can-
not use a direct invocation to any of them, the ever blessed
Virgin herself not excepted, w^hile we desire nevertheless
to join with them in spirit, and to communicate with them
in perfect charity.

" 4. Though they believe a perfect mystery in the Holy
Eucharist, through the invocation of the Holy Spirit, upon
the elements, whereby the faithful do verily and indeed
receive the body and blood of Christ, they believe it yet to
be after a manner, w^hich flesh and blood cannot conceive ;
and seeing no sufficient ground from Scripture or tradi-
tion to determine the manner of it, are for leaving it
indefinite and undetermined : so that every one may
freely, according to Christ's own institution and meaning,
receive the same in faith, and also worship Christ in
spirit, as verily and indeed present, without being obliged
to worship the Sacred symbols of his presence.

" 5. Though they honour the memory of all the faithful
witnesses of Christ, and count it not unlawful in itself to
assist the imagination by pictures and representations of
them and their glorious acts and sufferings, yet they are
afraid of giving thereby, on one hand, scandal to the Jews
and Mahometans, or on the other, to many well meaning
Christians: and they are moreover apprehensive that,
though the wise may be safe from receiving any damage,
by a wrong application, yet the vulgar may come thereby
to be ensnared, and be carried to symbolize too much with
the custom of idolaters, without designing it : to prevent
which they therefore propose, that the 9th Article of the
second Council of Nice, concerning the worship of Images,
be so explained by the wisdom of the Bishops and
Patriarchs of the Oriental Church, as to make it inoffen-
sive, and to remove the scandal, which may be occasioned
by, a direct application to them.

" If a concordate can be agreed on with some limita-

BRETT. inl

tions and iudulgences on both sides, then it is proposed
that a Church, to be called the Concordia, be built in or
about London, which may be under the jurisdiction of
the Patriarch of Alexandria, and in which, at certain times
to be agreed on, there shall be the Enghsh service of the
united British Catholics perlbrmed according as the same
shall be approved or licensed by that Patriarch, or by the
representatives of the Oriental Church. And that on the
other side, if it should please God to restore the suffering
Church of this island and her Bishops to her and their
just rights, they promise to use their endeavours, that leave
be granted to a Greek bishop here for the time residing,
or to such as shall be deputed by him, to celebrate, upon
certain days, divine service in the cathedral church of St.
Paul according to the Greek rites. But if one common
Liturgy could be on both sides agreed on, which should
be unexceptionable, being compiled out of the ancient
Greek Liturgies, some passages and rites only omitted,
which are not of the substance, and which may give
offence to one side, it is thought that nothing can more
conduce to the establishing a union and communion be-
tween both parties on catholic terms, would but the
Patriarchs of the Oriental Church graciously condescend,
that the same common Liturgy should be used in Great
Britain, both by the Greeks themselves here residing, and
by the united British Catholics.

" None to be excluded from entering into this con-
cordate who are willing, and all endeavours to be used
on both sides to heal the breaches of Christendom, and
to promote and propagate Christian unanimity and
peace.

London.
August 18th, 1716."

In the October following a letter was addressed to the
Czar of ^Muscovy relating to the preceding proposal which,
his majesty, it seems, encouraged.

The answer of the Eastern Patriarchs to the proposals
I 2

102 BRETT.

of the Nonjurors is dated from St. Petersburg, August 21,
1721. It is entitled " The Answer from the Orthodox of
the East to the proposals sent from Britain for a union
and agreement with the Oriental Church."

In this document the Patriarchs refuse to make the
desired concessions, giving their reasons at great length.
To the first five proposals they state, that they shall give
one answer, since they all relate to one point, namely,
the order of the five patriarchal thrones. " They who
call themselves the remnant of primitive orthodoxy in
Britain, would (if this be their meaning, which will be
shewn to be otherwise hereafter) have them dispossessed
of their situation given them by orthodox princes, and
confirmed by divine and holy synods, and be settled in a
new and different order : so that neither the Pioman nor
Constantinopolitan throne should any longer have the
preference, but that of Jerusalem. But somebody may
thus bespeak them, if gentlemen, the subject of your
union with the orthodox Oriental Church be matter of
doctrine and holy faith, to what purpose should the order
of the patriarchal thrones be changed, which can neither
tVie one way nor the other, be any advantage or detriment
to religion ? It would rather create divisions than con-
ciliate an union, for it has the face of an innovation;
whereas our Oriental Church, the immaculate Bride of
the Lord, has never at any time admitted any novelty,
nor will at all allow of any. And why should they have
the preference given to the throne of Jerusalem? Be-
cause, say they, from thence came out the evangelical
law of grace and truth, according to that prophesy, * but
out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the
Lord from Jerusalem.' Now they would by these words
seem wiser and more provident, than those who place
the thrones in this order, as if they had acted rashly and
unadvisedly in making such an appointment, which God
forbid. For the authors and legislators of this order were
divine men, of extensive knowledge and judgment, and

BRETT. 103

had the Spirit of the Lord : nor can we pretend to be
better and more sagacious than they, or to overturn, or in
the least disorder their wise settlements, lest we be found
to fight against the saints and against God." —

They afterwards say :

" Some time since, the Pope of Rome, being deceived
by the malice of the de\dl, and falling into strange novel
doctrines, revolted from the unity of the holy Church,
and was cut off : and it is now like a shattered rag of a sail
of the spiritual vessel of the Church, which formerly con-
sisted and was made up of five parts, four of which con-
tinue in the same state of unity and agreement : and by
these we easily and calmly sail through the ocean of this
life, and \vithout difficulty pass over the waves of heresy,
till we arrive within the haven of salvation. But he who
is the fifth part, being separated from the entire sail, and
remaining by himself in a small piece of the torn sheet, is
unable to perform his voyage, and therefore we behold
him at a distance tossed with constant waves and tempest
till he return to our Catholic, Apostolic, Oriental, immacu-
late faith, and be reinstated in the sail from whence he
was broken off: for this will make him secure, and able to
weather the spiritual storms and tempests that beset him.
Thus therefore the holy Church of Christ with us subsists
on four pillars, namely, the four Patriarchs, and continues
firm and immoveable. The first in order is the Patriarch
of Constantinople The second the Pope of Alexandria.
The third of Antioch. The fourth of Jerusalem."

They grant however :

" If those who are called the remains of the primitive
orthodoxy, out of any particular affection of piety to the
holy and Apostolical throne of Jerusalem, would prefer
and esteem it above the rest, we have no objection to it :
for we ourselves, though for order's sake we number it in
the 4th place, yet pay it the utmost reverence and respect,
and honour it as the place where the light of religion and
salvation arose, where the redemption of man and the
preaching of the Gospel shone out into all the world, and

104 BRETT.

because there our Lord suffered for us, and there shed His
precious blood. And if this be the desire of the pious
remnant in Britain, we grant and allow it, only let them
not despise the ancient order, nor accuse it of error, nor
reject it."

They add further on this point.

" But it is necessary also that he should, either im-
mediately or by deputation, consecrate the British Bishops
by the grace of the Holy Spirit, no other Patriarch but
that of Jerusalem daring to ordain in Britain, or to enter
upon his jurisdiction."

To the 6th proposal respecting the ancient discipline
they remark, " that they are ignorant of what is intended.
If it be to make the Patriarch of Jerusalem supreme over
all, they cannot consent, as it would subvert the ancient
order : but if they only wish him to be primus in Britain,
they consent. If the things to be revived were such as
needed a synodical examination, they promise to submit
them ' to a council of the universal Church.' "

To the 7th proposal they observe, that it is obscure, but
they promise, that all such things shall be settled, if the
union should be accomplished.

To the 8th proposal respecting King Edward's First
Liturgy, they say : *' The Oriental orthodox Church
acknowledges but one Liturgy, the same which was de-
livered down by the Apostles, but written by the first
Bishop of Jerusalem, James the brother of God, and after-
wards abbreviated upon account of its length by the great
Father, Basil, and afterwards again epitomized by John,
the golden-tongued Patriarch of Constantinople, which
from the times of Basil and Chrysostom, until now, the
Oriental orthodox Church receives and uses every where,
and by them administers the unbloody sacrifice in every
Church of the orthodox. It is proper, therefore, that
those, who are called the remnant of primitive piety,
should, when they are united to us, make use of those,
that in this point also there be no discord between us, but
th'^t they as well as we should on proper days officiate by

BRETT. 105

the Liturgy of St. Basil, and daily by that of St. Chrysos-
tom. x\s for the English Liturgy we are unacquainted
vrith. it, having never either seen or read it, but we have
suspicion of it, because many and various heresies and
schisms and sects have arisen up in those parts, lest the
heretics should have introduced into it any corruption or
deviation from the right path. Upon this account it is
necessary that we should both see and read it, and then
either approve it as right, or reject it as disagreeable to
our unspotted faith. When, therefore, we have considered
it, if it needs correction, we will correct it, and if possible
will give it the sanction of a genuine form. But what
occasion have those for any other Liturgy, who have the
true and sincere one of the divine Father Chrysostom,
which is made use of in all the Oriental Churches of the
Orthodox Greeks, Russians, Iberians, and Arabians, and
many other orthodox nations? For if they who are called
the remnant will receive this, they will thereby be more
intimately united, and more nearly related to us ; for
the people do not so much look upon the heart as the
appearance."

To the 9th Proposal, respecting the Homilies of
Chrysostom, they assent, and commend it. To the 10th
Proposal also they assent, as well as to the llth, which
they regard as of the same character. With respect to
the IQth Proposal, they promise to transmit the decrees
of their canons, and to receive the public and synodical
determinations from Britain, and to take them into their
consideration.

The Patriarchs then proceed to the points, in which the
Nonjurors express their agreement with the Eastern
Church. To the first four, a general agreement is ex-
pressed, only, with regard to the fourth, they wish them
to add, that the Holy Ghost also " spake by the Holy
Synods and Di^dne Fathers, and then they will be in the
right, and not far from the truth." To the rest of the
propositions also a general agreement is expressed ; only
they state their belief in Seven Sacraments, though two

100 BRETT.

only " exceed in necessity, and are such as no one can be
saved without them." On the question of Purgatorial
fire, they remark : " As for Purgatorial fire, invented by
the Papists to command the purse of the ignorant, we will
by no means hear of it. For it is a fiction and a doting
fable invented for lucre, and to deceive the simple, and,
in a word, has no existence but in the imagination. There
is no appearance or mention of it in the Holy Scriptures
or Fathers, whatsoever the authors or abettors of it may
clamour to the contrary." They contend, however, for
Prayers for Saints departed.

In the next place, the Patriarchs and Bishops proceed
to the points of disagreement, as expressed by the Non-
jurors, remarking that they constitute the greatest
difficulty. " But, say they, this is not to be wondered
at, for being born and educated in the principles of the
Lutheran Calvinists, and possessed with their prejudices,
they tenaciously adhere to them, like ivy to a tree, and are
hardly drawn off." They answer the points in the order
in which they were placed by the Nonjurors.

To the First they say, that the proposition cannot be
received, for they cannot allow the decrees of Synods to be
despised. To the Second respecting the Virgin Mary,
they say, "Here we may fairly cry out with David, ' They
were in great fear where no fear was :' " and then they
proceed to shew, that they do not give her divine honours.
In replying to the Third point, they contend that the
saints may be invocated and addressed as helpers. The
Fourth proposition relative to the Eucharist is termed
blasphemous, and the Patriarchs express their belief in
Transubstantiation. To the Fifth point, respecting
Images, they state, that to honour the saints by pictures
is an ancient piece of devotion, which they daily practice.
They argue at some length that the honour paid to them
is only relative. The proposal, at the end of the points
of disagreement, respecting a church in or near London, is
approved of and accepted : and also that the Eastern
Bishops, or those appointed by the Patriarch Alexandria,

BRETT. 107

should, in the event of a change in the government,
perform divine service in St. Paul's in Greek and Eng-
lish. They then recommend the translation of the Greek
Liturgy for general use.

At the close of the answers, it is added :

" The answers here transcribed to the proposals sent
from Britain, were drawn up by a sjnodical judgment and
determination of the Eastern Church, after the most
mature deliberation, of the Lord Jeremias, the most holy
oecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, the new Rome,
and the blessed and most holy Patriarchs, the Lord
Samuel of Alexandria, and the Lord Chrysanthus of Jeni-
salem, with the holy metropolitans, and the holy Clergy of
the great Church of Christ in Constantinople, in council
assembled, in the year 1718, in the month of April, day
the 12th."

Then follows a synodical answer to a question, respect-
ing the sentiments of the Greek Church, sent into Britain
in the year 1672. The same decisions are expressed as
in the preceding answers. It was signed by thirty-seven
Patriarchs, Archbishops and Bishops. Another Synodical
Decree is also given, on the same points, bearing the date
1691, and subscribed by several Patriarchs and Bishops.

The following is the reply of the Nonjurors to the com-
munication from the Patriarchs,

" Copy of a Reply to the Answers of the Orthodox
of the East.

" Before the Catholic remainder of the British Church
proceed to reply to the answers of the four most Reverend
Patriarchs of the Catholic Oriental Church, they think
themselves obliged to return their most hearty thanks to
their Patriarchal Lordships for the trouble they have given
themselves, in drawing up an answer to our proposals,
and transmitting it to so distant a country as Great
Britain : hoping that this charitable disposition and
generous ardour their Patriarchal Lordships express for

108 BRETT.

preserving an harmony between us, and enlarging the
union of Christendom, may be carried on to a happy
conclusion; and as the CathoHc remnant of Britain will
omit nothing, in order to so desirable an issue, but wil-
lingly stretch to the utmost of their power : so ha\dng the
satisfaction to understand, that their Patriarchal Lord-
ships refer the difference of sentiments between us to the
decision of the Scriptures and primitive Church, they
have no uncomfortable prospect of a coalition. For since
the determining rule is equally received by the Oriental
Churches and the Catholic remainder in Britain ; since
the inspired writings of the Old and New Testament, as
interpreted by the .primitive Fathers, are the common
standard of faith and worship to both, we do not despair,
but by the blessing of God, when the case shall be further
examined by the Catholic Oriental Church, such allow-
ances an^ concessions may be made, as may dispose both
parties to unite in communion with each other. And now,
after this short mention of our wishes and regard, we shall
proceed to sjoeak of the answer their Patriarchal Lord-
ships have done us the honour to send us.

As to the Articles agreed on between us, they shall
be passed over unmentioned except as they stand in
number.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5. To the answers to the first five propositions
we have nothing to except, only we conceive, that the
British Bishops may remain independent of all the
Patriarchs.

6. Under this Article we never intended to prescribe to
the wisdom, or question the learning of the Catholic
Oriental Church, our meaning by the word vai^siix, relating
only to points of discipline.

7. The answer of their Patriarchal Lordships is here
agreed to.

8. It is likewise agreed, that the Liturgy by which we
now oflQciate shall be translated into Greek, and trans-
mitted to their Patriarchal Lordships to be inspected by
them.

BRETT. lOD

?), 10, 11, IQ. The answer is agreed to. With respect
to the l'2th, we believe the prayers of the living, together
with the Eucharistic Sacrifice, are serviceable to the dead,
for the improvement of their happiness during the interval
between death and the resurrection, but then we declare
no further upon this Article.

As to the last five Articles, in which there still continue
some differences to be adjusted, we desire to observe in
general, that what conjectures soever the Catholic Oriental
Church might have to suspect us of Luthero-Calvinism,
we openly declare, that none of the distinguishing princi-
ples of either Df those sects can fairly be charged upon us,
and we further believe, that upon perusal of our reply
they v»ill most readily acquit us of any such imputation.

To come now to particulars.

I. Our reply to the answer to the first Proposition,
relating to the reception of the seven general Councils as
of equal authority to the Holy Scriptures, rnvt be made
with somewhat an abatement of regard. We willingly
declare, we receive the faith decreed in the first six general
Councils, as being agreeable to the Holy Scriptures,
though our sentiments cannot advance so far as to believe
the Fathers of those Councils assisted with an equal
degree of inspiration with the Prophets, Evangelists, and
Apostles ; but here we desire not to lie under any
restraint imposed by the disciplinary of those Councils.
To this we must subjoin, that as to the seventh general
Council assembled at Nice, we think ourselves obliged to
declare, that we cannot assent to the giving even the
worship Dulia to angels or departed saints."

They proceed to state their reasons at some length, and
then add : —

" As for their Patriarchal Lordships' sentiment, main-
taining the bread and wine in the Holy Eucharist being
changed, after consecration, into the actual body and blood
of our Saviour, nothing of the elements remaining except-
ing the bare accidents void of substance, we can by no

VOL. III. K

no BRETT.

means agree with their Lordships' dqctrine : such a cor-
poral presence which they call transubstantiation having
no foundation in Scripture, and being by implication, and
sometimes plainly denied by the most celebrated Fathers
of the primitive Church."

They conclude with observing that " having repre-
snnted the difference between us, we are now to suggest a
temper, and offer a compromise. If our liberty is left us
therefore in the instances above mentioned ; if the Oriental
Patriarchs, Bishops, &c. will authentically declare us not
obliged to the invocation of saints and angels, the worship
of images, nor the adoration of the host. If they please
publicly and authoritatively, by an instrument signed by
tliem, to pronounce us perfectly disengaged in these par-
ticulars ; disengaged we say, at home and abroad, in their
(]!hurches and in our own. These relaxing concessions
allowed, we hope may answer the overtures on both sides
and conciliate an union. And we further desire their
Patriarchal Lordships, &c. would please to remember,
that Christianity is no gradual religion, but was entire
and perfect when the Evangelists and Apostles were
deceased : and therefore the earliest traditions are un-
doubtedly preferable, and the first guides the best. For
the stream runs clearest towards the fountain head. Thus
whatever variations there are from the original state,
whatever crosses in belief or practice upon the earliest
ages ought to come under suspicion. Therefore as they
charitably put us in mind to shake off all prejudices, so we
entreat them not to take it amiss if we humbly suggest the
same advice. We hope therefore your Lordships' impartial
consideration will not determine by prepossessions, or by the
precedents of latter times, but rather be governed by the
general usages and doctrines of the first four centuries,
not excluding the 5th : that they will not think themselves
unalterably bound by any solemn decisions of the East in
the 8th century, wiiich was even then opposed by an equal
authority in the West. And thus presuming both parties

BRETT- HI

will hold the balance and wish for truth to prove it, we
are not without expectation of advancing so far towards
uniformity, as may make up the unhappy breach, and
close the distance between us. And to release their Patri-
archal Lordships, we take leave with our most earnest
prayers, ' That the All-wise and Merciful God. "^Tio
makes men to be of one mind in an house, Who is the
Author of peace and Lover of concord,' may graciously
please to continue their benevolent wishes, animate their
zeal, and direct their measures, for finishing so glorious
a work. That the Orthodox Oriental Church and the
Catholic remnant in Britain, may at last join in the
solemnities of religion, and be made more intimately one
fold under our Shepherd Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord
and Saviour, to Whom with the Father and the Holy
(rhost be all honour and glory, world ^\-ithout end.
Amen."

" This reply was concluded and delivered to some
Greeks in London, to be by them transmitted to the Four
Eastern Patriarchs. May QOth, ITQQ."

Having heard also from Ai-senius, to him they likewise
addressed a letter. " To the most venerable and wist
Bishop Arsenius the Metropolitan of Thebais, the i"emnant
of the Catholic bishops and clergy of Britain wish pros-
perity." It was signed by

Archibaldus, Scoto-Britanniae Episcopus.

Jacobus, Scoto-Britanniae Episcopus.

Jeremias, Primus Angio-BritanniaB Episcopus.

Thomas, Anglo- Britanniae Episcopus.
The last signature is that of Brett.

In a letter addressed by Arsenius in 17'^-2 to "the Lord
Jeremias, Lord Archibaldus, Lord Thomas, and Lord
James,"' (Lord Thomas being Bishop Brett,) it was pro-
posed that two of their pai'ty should be sent to Piussia for
the purpose of mutual and friendly conferences, and this
is stated to be the wish of the Emperor. The proposition
was also made in a letter from the Russian Governinir

112 BRETT.

Council, dated August 25tli, 17-i3 ; who forwarded another
letter to the Non-juring Bishops the year following. This
document is addressed " To the Most Reverend the
Bishops o-f the Catholic Church in Great Britain, our
dearest brothers." It is called " The Orthodox Confession
of the Apostolical, Catholic, and Oriental Church of
Christ." A Synod had been assembled to consider the
previous answer of the Non-juring Bishops ; and the
decision was now transmitted to England. They acknow-
ledge the reception of the Nonjurors' reply ; but they add^
that they have nothing further to remark, in addition to
their previous answer. They state, however, that the doc-
trines have been decided upon, and " that it is neither
lawful to add any thing to them nor take any thing from
them : and that those, who are disposed to agree with us in
the divine doctrines of the orthodox faith, must necessarily
follow and submit to what has been defined and deter-
mined, by ancient Fathers and the holy (Ecumenical
Synods from the time of the Apostles and their holy suc-
cessors, the Fathers of our Church to this time. We say
they must submit to them, with sincerity and obedience,,
and without any scruple or dispute. And this is a sufifi-
cient answer to what you have written," With this letter
they forward " x\n Exposition of the Orthodox Faith" of
the Eastern Church, agreed upon in a Synod called the
Synod of Jerusalem, 1672, and printed in 1675. With
resj^ct to "custom and ecclesiastical order, and for the
form and discipline of administering the Sacraments, they
will be easily settled," say they, " when (mce an union
is effected. For it is evident from ecclesiastical history,
that there have been and now are different customs and
regulations in different places and Churches, and that the
unity of faith and doctrine is preserved the same." This
letter is signed by the Patriarchs and several Archbishops
and Bishops, and dated September 1723, from Constan-
tinople.

The Non-jurors were unable to send their deputies im-
mediately, and on the death of the Emperor the matter

BRETT. 113

was dropped. But it was not only the death of the Czar
that put a stop to the negociations, but also the indiscre-
tion of the Patriarch of Jerusalem in writing to Wake,
Archbishop of Canterbury, and sending copies of the
proposals to him. Archbishop Wake most probably
regarded the whole affair as unworthy of notice, and
behaved very geuerously by not exposing the papers, or
suffering them to be ridiculed.

Shortly before this the Non-juring communion was broken
into two sections, under their respective leaders. Both
parties were hostile to the National Church : but Spinkes,
w^ith his supporters, dissented only on the questions of the
Oaths and the Prayers for the reigning Sovereign ; while
Collier and Brett, and those who concurred with them,
introduced, as we have seen, a New Communion Office.
involving several important practices, which had been
deliberately rejected by the Church of England. After
this separation, much bitterness was manifested in the
controversy, which was carried on between the two
sections : and some from both parties sought refuge in the
bosom of the National Church.

In the year 1722, Brett united with Collier and the
Scottish Bishop Campbell to increase the number of
Bishops in their section, and consecrated John Griffin.

During all this period Brett was actively employed
as an author. He published. An Account of Church
Government and Governors, wherein is showed that the
government of the Church of England is most agreeable
to that of the Primitive Church ; for the instruction of a
near relation, who had been brought up among the Dis-
senters, London, 1707, 8vo. The Authority of Pres-
byters Vindicated. Two Letters on the times wherein
Marriage is said to be prohibited, London, 1708, 4to.
A Letter to the Author of Lay-Baptism Invalid ; wherein
the Doctrine of Lay-Baptism, taught in a Sermon, said to

have been preached by the B of S y, Nov. 1710,

is censured and condemned by all Pieformed Churches,

K '2

114 BRETT.

London, 1711. A Sermon on Remission of Sins, John xx,
21 — 23, London, 1712. The Doctrine of Remission &c.r
ExjDlained and Vindicated. With this sermon he also
published, in 1715, five others. On the Honour of the
Christian Priesthood ; the Extent of Christ's Commis-
sion to Baptize ; the Christian Altar and Sacrifice ; the
Dangers of a Relapse ; and. True Moderation. The
Extent of Christ's Commission to Baptize, with the Letter
to the Author of Lay-Baptism Invalid, was answered by
Mr. Bingham, in his Scholastic History of Lay-Baptism ;:
and being reflected upon by the Bishop of Oxford in a
Charge, he wrote, An Inquiry into the Judgment and
Practice of the Primitive Church, &c., in answer thereto,
London, 1713. And upon Mr. Bingham's reply, he pub-
lished, A farther Inquiry, &c., 1714; A Review of the
Lutheran principles, showing how they differ from the
Church of England, &c. ; A Vindication of himself from
thj Calumnies cast upon him in some Newspapers, falsely
charging him with turning Papist ; in a Letter to the
Plon. Arch. Campbell, Esq., London, 1715. Dr. Bennet's
Concessions to the Non-jurors proved destructive to the
Cause he endeavours to defend, 1717. The Independency
of the Church upon the State, as to its pure spiritual
Powers, &c. 1717. The Divine Right of Episcopacy, &c.
1718; and, in the same year. Tradition necessary to ex-
plain and interpret the Holy Scriptures, with a Postscript
in answer to No Sufficient Reason, &c., and a Preface,
with Remarks on Tolands Nazarenus ; and a further
Proof of the Necessity of Tradition, &c. A Vindication of
the Postscript, in answer to No Just Grounds, &c. 1720.
A Discourse concerning the Necessity of discerning Christ's
Body in the Holy Communion, London, 1720. A Disser-
tation on the Principal Liturgies used by the Christian
Church in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, 1720.
He is also supposed to have written. Some Discourses on
the Ever- blessed Trinity, in the same year. Of Degrees
in the University, a Dissertation in the Biblioth. Liter.
No. 1. An Essay on the various English Translations of

BREVIXT. 115

the Bible, No. 4. Au Historical Essay concerning Arith-
metical Figures, No. 8, with an Appendix to it, No. 10,
lT'-i2 — 23 — 24, in4to. An Instruction to a Person newlj
Confirmed, &g. 1725. A Chronological Essay on the
Sacred History, &c., in defence of the Computation of the
Septuagint, with an Essay on the Confusion of Languages,
1729. A General History of the World, &c. 1732. An
Answer to the Plain Account of the Sacrament, in 1735-6.
Some Remarks on Dr. Waterland's Review of the Doctrine
of the Eucharist, &c., with an Appendix, in answer to his
Charges, 1741. A Letter to a Clergyman, showing why
the Hebrew Bibles differ from the Septuagint, 1743.
Four Letters between a Gentleman and a Clergyman, con-
cerning the necessity of Episcopal Communion for the
.valid administration of Gospel Ordinances, 1743. The
Life of Mr. John Johnson, A.M., prefixed to his Post-
humous Tracts, in 1748; with several Prefaces to the
works of others, particularly a very long one to Hart's Bul-
wark Stormed, &c. In 1760, was published, a Disserta-
tion on the Ancient Versions of the Bible ; a second
edition, prepared for the press by the Author, and now
first published, 8vo.

Sir John Hawkins informs us that Dr. Johnson derived
his opinion of the lawfulness of praying for the dead, from
the controversy on the subject in 1715, agitated between
certain Nonjuring Divines, and particularly from the
aiguments of Bishop Brett.

Brett died at his house in Spring Grove on the 5th of
March, 1743, leaving behind him the character of a pious
as well as a learned man. — Lathbury's History of the No?i-
jurors. Master's History of C. C. C. Cambridge. Hawkins's
Life of Johnson.

BREVINT, DA^'IEL.

Daniel Brevint was born in the Isle of Jersey, in
1616, and received there his primary education. Before
tije revocation of the edict of Nantes, and till Charles I.,

116 BREVINT.

by Archbishop Laud's persuasion, founded three fellow-
ships in the colleges of Pembroke, Exeter, and Jesus, at
Oxford, for Jersey and Guernsey alternately, young men
of those Islands, designed for the ministry, were too often
sent to study among the protestants in France, particularly
at Saumur. Here Brevint studied logic and philosophy.
In 1638, he was incorporated master of arts at Oxford, as
he stood at Saumur ; and the same year was chosen to be
the first fellow at Jesus College, upon the foundation just
mentioned. But he did not retain his fellowship long.
The presbyterians and dissenters, obtaining power, ejected
every Christian of the Church of England out of his pre-
ferment whatever it was. And Brevint was deprived of
his fellowship in 1643. He then withdrew to his native
country ; and, upon the reduction of that place by the ,
Parliament's forces, fled into France, and became pastor
of a protestant congregation in Normandy. Soon after
the Viscount de Turenne, afterwards Marshall of France,
whose lady was distinguished for her piety, appointed him
one of his chaplains. Whilst he held this office, he was
one of the persons employed in the design of reconciling
the protestant and popish religions ; which gave him an
access into, and made him acquainted with, every corner
of the Romish Church, as he says himself. At the Resto-
ration, Brevint returned to England, and was presented
by Charles II., who had known him abroad, to the tenth
prebend in the cathedral of Durham. Dr. Cosin, bishop
of that see, who had been his fellow-sufferer, also collated
him to a living in his diocese. In February, 1661, he
took the degree of doctor of divinity at Oxford ; and in
December, 1681, he was promoted to the deanery of Lin-
coln. Duiing his exile he had seen the worst features of
popery, and all the dishonest arts used to support it ; and
consequently in 1672 he published his Missale Romano-
rum ; or, the Death and Mystery of the Roman Mass laid
open and explained, for the use of both reformed and un-
reformed Christians. He was one of those sound divines
who contended against popery on catholic principles, as

BREYINT. 117

may be seen from the following passages taken from this
work. He vigorously opposes what he shews to be the
main intention of the Mass, namely, to offer up to
God the Father the Body and Blood of his Son.
"This," says he, "is the grand object of Rome's Catholic
religion ; and whosoever every morning goes to that
Church, it is in order to have some share in this un-
reasonable service.

" For, both in reason and Scripture, we are to offer
ourselves to God ; which St. Paul calls our ' reasonable
service.' Rom. xii. 1. We must, likewise, offer our prayers,
praises, elevation of hearts, tears of contrition, virtuous
thoughts, just and charitable vows and works, &c., which,
in opjDosition to the flesh and blood of Levitical sacrifices,
the ancient fathers used to call 'sacrifices without blood.'
We must also celebrate, and in a manner offer to God,
and expose and lay before him the holy memorials of that
great sacrifice on the cross, the only foundation of God's
mercies and of our hopes, in like manner as faithful
Israelites did, at every occasion, represent unto God that
covenant of His with Abraham their father, as the original
conveyance of blessings settled on his posterity. And this
is the ' sacramental priestly office' in the Areopagite, the
' commemorative sacrifice' in St. Chrysostom, and the
' sacrifice after the order of Melchisedek' in St, Theodoret,
which we solemnly do offer in the celebration of holy
mysteries. All these things, I say, and whatsoever else
depends on them, it is our duty to offer to God and to
Christ, or rather to God by Christ. But that we should
offer also Christ Himself, our Lord and our God, to Whom
we must offer ourselves ; it is a piece of devotion never
heard of among men, till the Mass came in to bring such
news.

" Because it was the general custom of primitive Chris-
tians, never to receive the holy Sacrament but after they
had made their offerings, out of which the two elements of
bread and wine, being set apart and consecrated, and
then, by an ordinary manner of speech, called the Body

1 18 BREVINT.

and Blood of Christ ; the word, as well as the act of
otfering, got so large and common a use in two distinct
offices, as to signifj' the whole service ; which St. Augus-
tine more distinctly calls ' offering' and ' receiving ; ' that
is, offering the bread and wine before, and receiving part
of it after it was consecrated. And really the whole
service was little more than a continued oblation. For
Christians, before the Sacrament, offered their gifts ; and,
after it, offered their prayers, their praises, and themselves.
And this was the constant and solemn oblation of the
Church, until dark and stupid ages, w^hich by degrees
have hatched transubstantiation in the bosom of the
Roman Church, have at last improved it to this horrid
direful semce, which mainly aims at this, to offer upon
an altar, not the bread and wine as before, but the very
Body and Blood of Christ.

"And because these public offices about the holy
Sacrament are, in antiquity, commonly called sacrifices,
as being standing memorials of the true sacrifice of
Christ, the Church of Rome is now pleased to mistake
these 'antitypes' and 'representations,' as the ancient
Church calls them, of the sufferings of Christ, for Christ
Himself, represented by the antitypes ; and upon this
mistake she now builds up altars in e^ery corner of her
temples, thereon not only to offer, but also to sacrifice the
Son of God."

The next year he published or reprinted the Christian
Sacrament and Sacrifice, by way of discourse, meditation,
and prayer, upon the nature, parts, and blessings of the
holy communion. This celebrated work was eulogized by
Dr. Waterland, and reprinted at his suggestion in 1739.
In it he still maintains his orthodox view of the euchar-
istic sacrifice. '* It must be granted," he says, " that the
Holy Communion is not only a Sacrament, that the wor-
shipper is to come to for no other pui-pose, than to receive ;
nor a sacrifice only, where he should have nothing else to
do, but to give : but it is as the great solemnity of the
ancient passover was, whereof it hath taken place ; a great

BREVIXT. 119

mystery, consisting both of Sacrament and sacrifice, that
is, of the religious service which the people owe to God,
and of the full salvation which God is pleased to promise
to His people.

" It is a certain truth, that there never was on earth a
true religion without some kind of sacrifices : and it is a
very great lie to say that now the Christian should want
them

" Of all the carnal sacrifices, which the Jews do reduce
to six kinds, (besides many more oblations,] none ever had
any saving reality, as to the washing away of sins, but in
dependence on Jesus Christ our Lord ; and as to our ser-
vice and duty towards God, which they were also to repre-
sent, none had this second end so fully performed under
the Law as it must be under the Gospel. The blessed
Communion alone, when whole and not mutilated, concen-
ters and brings together these two great ends (full expia-
tion of sins, and acceptable duty to God,) towards which
all the old sacrifices never looked, but as either simple
engagements, or weak shadows. As for the first, which is
expiation of sins, it is most certain that the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ alone hath been sufficient for it : . . . . And
the reiteration of it were not only superfluous as to its
real effect, but also most injurious to Christ in the very
thought and attempt.

•'Nevertheless, this sacrifice, which by a real oblation
was not to be offered more than once, is, by an eucharis-
tical and devout commemoration, to be offered up every
day. This is what the Apostle calls, to * set forth the
death of the Lord,' — to set it forth, I say, as well before
the eyes of God His Father, as before the eyes of all men,
— and St. Augustine did explain, when he said that the
holy flesh of Jesus Christ was offered up in three manners;
by prefiguring sacrifices under the Law, before His coming
into the world ; in real deed upon the cross ; and by a
commemorative Sacrament, after He is ascended into hea-
ven. All comes to this — First, that the sacrifice, as it is
itself and in itself, it can never be reiterated ; yet, by way

120 BREVINT.

of devout celebration and remembrance, it may neverthe-
less be reiterated every day. Secondly, that whereas the
holy Eucharist is by itself a Sacrament, wherein God
offers unto all men the blessings merited by the oblation
of His Son, it likewise becomes, by our remembrance, a
kind of sacrifice also ; whereby, to obtain at His hands
the same blessings, we present and expose before His eyes
that same holy and precious oblation once offered. Thus
the ancient Israelites did continually represent, in their
solemn prayers to God, that covenant which He had made
once with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, their forefathers.
Thus did the Jews, in their captivity, turn their faces
towards either the country or to the temple, where the
mercy-seat and the ark were, which were the memorials of
His promises, and the Sacramental engagement of His
blessings. And thus the Christians in their prayers do
every day insist upon, and represent to God the Father
the meritorious passion of their Saviour, as the only sure
ground, whereon both God may give, and they obtain the
blessings which they do pray for. Now, neither the Israel-
ites had ever temple, or ark, or mercy-seat, nor the Chris-
tians have any ordinance, devotion, or mystery, that may
prove to be such a blessed and effectual instrument to
reach this everlasting sacrifice, and to set it out so
solemnly before the eyes of God Almighty, as the holy
Eucharist is. To men it is a sacred table, where God's
minister is ordered to represent from God his master the
passion of His dear Son, as still fresh and still powerful
for their eternal salvation : and to God it is an altar,
whereon men mystically lepresent to Him the same sacri-
fice, as still bleeding and sueing for expiation and mercy.
And because it is the High Priest Himself, the true
anointed of the Lord, Who hath set up most expressly
both this table and this altar for these two ends, namely,
for the communication of His body and blood to men, and
for the representation and memorial of both to God : it
cannot be doubted, but that the one must be most advan-
tageous to the penitent sinner, and the other most accept-

BREVINT. 1^1

able to that good and gracious Father, Who is always
pleased in His Son, and Who loves of Himself the repent-
ing and the sincere returning of His children, Luke xv.
22. Hence one may see both the great use and advantage
of more frequent communion ; and how much it concenis
us, whensoever we go to receive it, to lay out all our
wants, and pour out all our grief, our prayers, and our
praises, before the Lord in so happy a conjuncture. The
primitive Christians did it so, who did as seldom meet to
preach or pray, without a Communion, as did the old
Israelites to worship, without a Sacrifice. On solemn
days especially, or upon great exigencies, they ever used
this help of sacramental oblation, as the most powerful
means the Church had to strengthen their supplications,
to open the gates of heaven, and to force in a manner God
and His Christ, to have compassion on them. The people
of Israel, for the better performance of prayer and devo-
tion, went up to the Tabernacle and the Temple, because
(besides other motives) both these were figures of that
Body which was to be sacrificed. Wherefore Christ calls
His body ** this temple," John ii. 19 ; and the first
Christians went up to their churches, there to meet with
these mysteries, which do represent Him both as already
sacrificed, and yet as in some sort offering and giving up
Himself. Those, in worshipping, ever turned their eyes,
their hearts, their hopes towards that Altar and Sacrifice,
whence the High Priest was to carry the Blood into the
sanctuaiy: and these, looking towards the Cross and
their crucified Saviour there, through His sufferings hope
for a way towards heaven ; being encouraged to this hope
by the very memorial which they both take to themselves
and show to God of these sufferings. Lastly, Jesus, our
eternal Priest, being from the Cross, where He suffered
without the gate, gone up into the true sanctuary which is
in heaven, there above doth continually present both His
Body in true reality, and us as Aaron did the twelve
tribes of Israel, in a memorial. Exod. xxviii. 20. and,

VOL. TII. L

U)i BREVINT.

on the other side, we, beneath in the Church, present
to God His Body and Blood in a memorial, that,
under this shadow of His Cross, and image of His
Sacrifice, we may present ourselves before Him in very
deed and reality."

A little afterwards he observes, "it is either the error,
or the incogitancy of too many Christians, which makes
them sometimes believe, and oftener live as if, under the
Gospel, there were no other Sacrifice but that of Christ
upon the Cross. It is very true, indeed, there is no other,
nor can there be any other sufficient, and proper for this
end, of satisfying God's justice, and expiating our sins.
' I have trodden the wine-press alone ; and of the people
there was none with Me ; I looked, and there was none to
help." Isaiah Ixiii. 3, 5. In this respect, though the
whole Church should, in a body, offer up herself as a
burnt Sacrifice to God, yet could she not contribute more
towards the bearing up or bearing away ' the wrath to
come,' than all those innocent souls, who stood near
Jesus Christ when He gave up the ghost, did towards the
darkening of the sun, or the shaking of the whole earth.
But that which is not so much as useful, much less neces-
sary, to this eternal sacrifice which alone could redeem
mankind, is indispensably both necessary and useful,
that we may have a share in this redemption. So that if
the sacrifice of ourselves, which we ought to offer up to
God, cannot procure salvation, it is absolutely necessary
to receive it."

Again, he observes, " whensoever Christians approach,
to this dreadful mystery, and to the Lamb of God, ' lying
and sacrificed' (as some say that the holy Nicene Council
speaks,) ' upon the holy table,' it concerns their main
interest, in point of salvation, as well as other duties, to
take a special care not to lame and deprive the grand.
Sacrifice of its own due attendance : but to behave them-
selves in that manner that, as both the principal and
additional sacrifices were consumed by the same fire, and

BREVINT. l-^a

went up towards heaven in the the same flame, so Jesus
Christ and all His members may jointly appear before
God : this in a Sacramental mystery, these, with their
real bodies and souls, ofiering themselves at the same
time, in the same place, and by the same oblation."

He states further, " though Christ our blessed Saviour,
by that everlasting and ever same Sacrifice of Himself,
offer Himself virtually up on all occasions : and we, on
our side, also, offer ourselves, and what is ours, with Him
several other ways, besides that of the Holy Communion :
nevertheless, because Christ offers Himself for us at the
Holy Communion in a more solemn and pubhc sacra-
mental way, — (thence it comes, that the memorial of the
Sacrifice of Christ thereby celebrated, takes commonly the
name of the Sacrifice itself, as St. Austin explains it
often,) — we are then obliged, in a more special manner,
to renew all our sacrifices, all the vows of our baptism, all
the first fruits of our conversion, and all the particular
promises which, it may be, we have made."

In 1674 he published Saul and Samuel at Endor, or the
New Ways of Salvation and Service, which usually tempt
men to Rome, and detain them there, truly represented and
refuted ; reprinted 1688; at the end of which is A Brief
Account of R. F., his Missale Vindicatum, or Vindication
of the Roman Mass, being an answer to The Depth and
Mystery of the Roman Mass, before-mentioned. Besides
the above works, he published in Latin, Ecclesise primi-
tivse Sacramentum et Sacrificium, a Pontificiis coniiptelis,
et exinde natis Controversiis libenim, written at the
desire of the Princesses of Turenne and Bouillon. Eu-
charistiae Praesentia realis, et Pontificia ficta, luculentissi-
mis non Testimoniis modo, sed etiam Fundamentis,
quibus fere tota SS. Patrum Theologia nititur, haec
explosa, ilia suffulta et asserta. Pro Serenissima Principe
Weimariensi ad Theses Jenenses accurata Responsio.
Ducentae plus minus Praelectiones in S. Matthaei xxv.
capita, et aliorum Evangelistarum locos hisce passim
parallelos. He also translated into French, The judgment

1^4 BRIDFERTH.

of the University of Oxford concerning the solemn League
and Covenant. He died on the 5th of May, 1695. —
Wood's AthencD and Fasti. Walkers Sufferings of the
Clergy. Willis s Smrey of the Cathedral of Lincoln.
Brevinfs Works.

BRIDFEETH.

Bridferth was bora in the tenth century, and having
received his education in France, became, as Leland
supposes, a monk of Thorney. He was celebrated as a
mathematician, and in the school of Ramsey was a pro-
fessor of science. He wrote commentaries on the two
treatises of Bede, De Natura Rerum, and De Temporum
Ratione. Two other works are also attributed to him,
De Principiis Mathematecis Lib. 1., and De Institutione
Monachorum Lib. 1., — in addition to these Mabillon
regards him as author of the Life of Dunstan, in the Acta
Sanctorum. All these vrorks are valuable, as illustrating
both the learning and the mode of thought peculiar to the
age. — Wright. Leland. Pits.

BRIDGE, WILLIAM.

William Bridge was born in 1600. He was a fellow
of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he took his
master's degree ; and afterwards settled as a minister at
Norwich, till he was silenced for non- conformity, when he
went to Rotterdam, and was chosen pastor of an indepen-
dent congregation. In 1642 he returned to England, and
was appointed one of the Westminster assembly. He had
also the living of Great Yarmouth, from which he was
ejected after the Restoration, and died in 1670. His
works, which are rigidly calvinistic, were published in two
vols. 4to. — Calamy.

BRISTOW. 105

BKIDGEWATER, JOHN.

John Bridgewater was bom iu Yorkshire, of a Somer-
setshire family. He was educated at Hart Hall, Oxford,
after which he became a member of Brazenose College,
where he took his master's degree in 1556, and was
so(m after ordained. He was a decided Eomanizer,
but remained in the Catholic Church of England, and
became rector of Lincoln College, canon of Wells, and
Archdeacon of Rochester; but, in 1574, he resigned his
rectorship, and went over to Rome. He then quitted the
kingdom, and went to the college for English Roman
Catholics at Douay ; he afterwards settled in Germany,
where he died about 1600. He published, Concertatio
Ecclesiae Catholicae in Anglia, 4to Confutatio virulentae
Disputationis Theologicag, in qua Georgius John Prof.
Acad. Heidelberg, conatus est docere, Pontificem Roma-
num esse Antichristum, &c. 1589, 4to. An account of
the Six Articles, usually proposed to the missionaries that
suffered in England. — Dod. Wood.

BRISTOW, RICHARD.

Richard Bristow was born at Worcester, in 1538.
Pits asserts that in 1555 he entered at Exeter College,
Oxford, but Wood doubts this ; it is certain that he was a
member of Christ Church when he took his masters
degi'ee in 156"2. In 1566 he was selected with Campian
to entertain Queen Elizabeth on her visit to the university,
with a public disputation ; and in the following year he
was appointed a fellow of Exeter College. He was at this
time suspected of Romanizing propensities which inter-
fered with his prospect of further preferment. And the
suspicions were proved to be too true, as in 1569 he fell
into schism, left his college, and quitted the kingdom.
He went toLouvain, and by Cardinal x\llenwas made the

VOL. III. M

1-26 BRISTOW.

first moderator in the English college by him founded at
Douay, took upon him the priesthood, being the first in
that college who did so, and read the first public lectnre
of divinity there. Afterwards, upon Dr. Allen's instituting
another seminary at Rheiras, Bristo-w was sent for, and
the care of that place was committed to him also in 1579,
a substitute being provided at Douay : about which time
he tot)k the degree in divinity, partly at Douay and partly
at Louvain, and became, says Wood, famous in those parts
for his religion and learning. He privately returned to
England shortly after, by his physician's advice, to try the
effect of his native air, in consequence of a pulmonary
complaint, and died near Harrow, October 18, 1581. He
published, — 1. A Brief Treatise of divers plain and sure
Ways to find out the Tiuth in this doubtful and dangerous
time of heresy ; containing sundry motives unto the Catholic
Faith, or Considerations to move a Man to believe the
Catholics and not the Heretics, Antwerp, 1599. These
motives were answered by Dr. Will. Fulke, of Cambridge.
And Bristow published, — 2. A Reply to Will. Fulke, in
Defence of Dr. Allen's Scroul of Articles and Book of
Purgatory, Lov. 1580. Dr. Fulke published a rejoinder
the year following. 3. Anti-Haeretica Motiva, omnibus
Catholicee Doctrinse Orthodoxis cultoribus pemecessaria,
Atrebat. 1608, in two vols, 4to. This large book, which
contains most if not all the former motives, was translated
into Latin by Thomas Worthington, a secular priest,
afterwards a Jesuit, in 1606, and by him pubHshed at
Arras two years after. 4. Demands (fifty-one in number)
to be proposed by Catholics to the Heretics. Several-
times printed in 8vo. This also was answered in a book
entitled. To the Seminary Priests late come over, some
like Gentlemen, &c. Lond. 1592. 5. A Defence of the
Bull of Pope Pius V. He also collected, and for the most
part wrote, Annotations on the New Testament, translated
into English at Rheims : and was also, as it seems, author
of- Veritates iVureaj S. R. Ecclesioe, Autoritatibus vet.
Patrum, &c. Ui^.—Dod. Pits. Tanner. Wood.

BROKESBY. ur

BRITirS, OR ST. BRICE.

Britius was bishop of Tours, and successor of St. ^lar-
tin in that see. He died on the ] 3th of Xovember, 444,
but although his name is honoured as that of a saint in
the calendar of the Church of England, little seems to l^
known of him except that having in his youth been
addicted to licentious pleasures, he became a sincere
penitent

BROKESBY, FRA^'CIS.

Francis Brokesby was bom at Stoke in Leicestershire,
September :29th, 1C37, and was educated at Cambridge,
where he became a fellow of Trinity College, and took
his B.D. degree in 1666. He afterwards married and
became rector of Rowley, near Hull, in the East Riding
ot Yorkshire.

The case in view became a case in fact in 1710, when
Brokesby, together with Dodwell and Nelson, again con-
formed to the Establishment. Lloyd, the deprived Bishop
of Norwich, was now dead. Of the deprived bishops,
therefore. Ken only survived, and Ken had actually re-
signed his pretensions and claims to Hoopoi', who suc-
ceeded Kidder in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Dodwell
and others applied to Ken to know if he cliallenged their
subjection : who replied, that he did not, and who further
expressed his wish, that the breach might now be closed
by their union with the bishops in possession of the sees.
The particulars connected with the return of Dodwell,
Nelson, Brokesby, and others to the National Church, are
so full of interest that they demand our special notice.
Dodwell writes to a friend, under the date of January 1 Ith.
1709-10, Lloyd having died only ten days before, con-
cerning the schism. The letter is as follows :

" I have received yours, and have already written to
my Lord of Bath and Wells, as the only sumvor of the
invalidly deprived bishops, and as thereby having it in

1-28 BROKESBY.

his power now to free not only his private diocese, but the
whole National Church, from the schism introduced by
filling the sees, which were no otherwise empty than by
the invalid deprivations. This I take to be sufficient upon
our principles, who cannot justify our separate communion
on any other account than that of the schism, provided
there be no other, whom we do not yet know of, who does
claim, and can prove a better title to some one episcopal
altar of our National Church by succession to some of our
deceased fathers, than the present incumbents,

" This 1 had no mind to signify to Mr. K before

others in his shop, when he would have me declare myself
satisfied, that the schism would end with the life of my
Lord of Norwich. I had no mind then to intimate the
case of clandestine consecrations by our deceased Fathers,
before persons who were not concerned for the satisfaction
of their own consciences : but might thence easily take
occasion to represent my case as the same with theirs :
that the Case in View would immediately fall out upon the
decease of my Lord of Norwich.

" But if my Lord of Bath and Wells declare he will not
«o far insist on his right, as to justify our separate com-
munions upon his account : we must then enquire, whe-
ther any claim appear derived from his deceased brethren,
for keeping any one see full, which had been otherwise
vacant by their death : and what evidence appears for
supporting that claim : and whether that evidence be
satisfactory ? And the information concerning these facts
must be expected from our friends in London. But it
will, I believe, be most prudent not to enquire into secrets,
the discovery of which may be dangerous to the persons
concerned in them. The persons concerned in a good
right so derived, may, and that commendably, in prospect
of the peace which may follow from their concealment of
what they have to say upon that argument, waive their
right, how good soever otherwise. And we have reason to
presume it is their design to do so, if they do not claim
their right at this proper time of claiming it, and publish

BROKESBY. 12V^

tbeir evidences for the satisfaction of the ecclesiastical sul>-
jects. x\nd we may securely practice", as if they had no
right at all, as presuming that they have waived it. Nor
can there be any schism without a known altar, against
which an opposite altar may be erected. It will not
therefore be sufficient to prove them validly consecrated
bishops, unless they were also put in possession of some
particular Church, by the same pro\'incial Synod, by
which they were consecrated. Which I am apt to think
was a thing not foreseen, if there were any such clan-
destine consecrations.

" The other arguments, distinct from this of the schism,
cannot, I think, be justifiable upon catholic principles.
Nor can we therefore second our brethren who will con-
tinue the separation upon them. The adjusting these
things will require some time before we can be resolved
what to do. And the respite will be convenient for
the unanimity even of those who act upon the same
principles.

" Thus you have my thoughts, in short, concerning
this whole matter. It concerns us all to join our prayers,
that our own concord be broken as little as is possible,
by our reconciliation into one communion with our
adversaries."

This is a most interesting and important document, as
expressive of Dodwell's views on the question of the con-
tinuance of the separation. It is clear too that Dodwell
was uncertain about the new consecrations. He had
evidently heard a rumour of such a thing, but he had no
positive knowledge of the fact. He writes from Shottes-
brooke again nearly two months later, under the date of
March 2nd, to another friend. At this time he had
received Ken's answer.

" Since the decease of my Lord of Norwich, 1 have writ-
ten to the excellent bishop Ken, as the last survivor of the
invalidly deprived bishops, and have received his answer:
as I have also seen another answer to another person, who

130 BROKESBY.

consulted him on the same occasion. Both are veiy full
in owning his not insisting on his just right.

" By these therefore and other informations, we are
here fuUy satisfied, that there is not now any longer any
altar in our National- Church opposite to another altar of
the same Church, that can justify the continuance of our
separation. Accordingly our two families here were at
Church on Febmary the 26th, the first Sunday in Lent.

"But there are several, who still scruple the prayers.
Endeavours are however using, that this diflference of
practice may make as little animosities in our flock as
may he : whose endeavours will deserve the prayers of all
who desire the good as well as the peace of this afflicted
Church."'

The other letter from Ken, to which Dodwell alludes,
was undoubtedly one which was sent to Nelson. Thus,
writing to a friend on the same subject, under date of
February '^Ist, 1709-10, Nelson says:

"In order to satisfy your inquiry, I can acquaint you,
that I have received a letter from Bishop Ken, who assures
me, ' that he was always against that practice which he
foresaw would perpetuate the schism, and declared against
it, and that he had acted accordingly, and would not have
it laid at his door, having made a recess (as he says) for a
much more worthy person: and he apprehends it was
always the judgment of his brethren, that the death of the
canonical bishops would render the invaders canonical, in
regard the schism is not to last always.' Afterwards his
lordship adds this : ' I presume Mr. Dodwell, and others
with him, go to church, though I myself do not, being a
public person : but to communicate with my successor in
that part of the ofiSce which is unexceptionable, I should
make no difficulty.'

" This letter I communicated to Mr. Dodwell when in
town, which he thought clear enough for closing the
schism, and I suppose in a short time he may have one
to the same purpose."

BROKESBY. 131

On the 5th of March, Brokeshv writes to a gentleman
on the same subject for Dodwell, whose weak sight at that
time prevented him from writing himself. He cites
Ken's answer to Dodwell, the same in substance as that
to Nelson. It was as follows :

" In that you are pleased to ask me, whether I insist
on my episcopal claim ? my answer is, that I do not : and
that I have no reason to insist on it, in regard that I
made cession to my present most worthy successor : who
came into the fold with my free consent and approbation.
As for any clandestine claim, my judgment was always
against it : and I have nothing to do with it, foreseeing
that it would perpetuate a schism, which I found very
afflicting to good people scattered in the country, where
they could have no divine offices performed."

Brokesby adds :

" We are here satisfied the schism is at an end, when
there is no altar against altar, nor any other Bishops but
Suffi-agans to require our subjection. And therefore we
go all to church."

Much correspondence took place at this period between
the Nonjurors, since many dissented from Dod well's view.
Brokesby, as well as Dodwell, enters largely upon the
subject. In a letter of October 1 9th, 1710, he thus
writes :

" That we could not communicate with the present
possessors fonnerly because there was altar against altar ;
which cannot now be said : that we could not communi-
cate with them while our excellent fathers were alive :
that these might if they had pleased have ordained
bishops into vacant sees : that this was not done, (which
alone could have hindered it) and hence upon the death of
our deprived fathers a right accnied to the present posses-
sors, there being none else who could justly challenge it :
that when our deprived fathers consecrated other bishops,
they capacitated them to perform episcopal functions, gave
them a right to ordain others, and hereby a power to pre-
vent the failure of this order, which might otherwise be

132 BROKESBY.

feared as in Scotland : and they might have commissioned
them to exercise their episcopal offices : but they could
not commission them to do it after their deaths, the com-
mission determining with the life of their commissioner,
nor could give them right to act in full sees."

Brokesby alludes to a report, that the deprived bishops
agreed that a power was given the new bishops, that is,
Hickes and Wagstaff, equal to that of the Bishop of Nor-
wich, and that it was to be exercised after the death
of the bishops. He says in reply: "It can hardly be
imagined that those wise and good men should grant such
a power; in that if they had had a mind in their life time
to have closed the schism, this might have precluded them
from doing it. But further, this power could not have
been granted without an unanimous consent of all the
deprived bishops, in that if any one had stood out this
would have rendered the grant invalid, because he might
have insisted on his own right : now we have reason to
think that Bishop Ken never concurred to the grant of
such a power."

Another letter was written by Brokesby to the same
party, dated 18th November, 1710. It appears that the
individual had insisted on the right of the deprived
Bishops to appoint successors. Brokesby takes up Dod-
well's position, and contends that such a grant, if made,
must be fully attested : and that then the question
w'hether the deprived Bishops had such a power must be
c(msidered. It appears also, that during these discus-
sions, the consecrations of Hickes and Wagstaffe were
fully made known ; or at all events they were pleaded in
the letter to Brokesby. This is certain, since Brokesby
thus argues :

" You make this grant a subsequent act to those per-
sons being ordained suffragan Bishops, and to be a synod-
ical decree of our deprived Fathers. Admitting the first,
their being ordained : we insist on the proof of the subse-
quent grant, the enlargement of their power, and this over
the whole Church of England. If it was a synod ical

BROMPTON. 133

determination, then let the Acta synodalia he produced,
and this under the hands of the Bishops, who were mem-
bers of the synod, according to the forms used in synods."
He afterwards adds : " Suppose our deprived Fathers had
intended to convey such a power to those worthy suffra-
gans, and agreed among themselves to do it : if they did
not by some formal act convey it, no such power accrues
to them, neither can they, by virtue of such an intention,
challenge any jurisdiction." Brokesby therefore urges the
production of the grant before its legality be discussed.
Another letter was written by Brokesby in lTl-2 ; but he
only re-asserts his previous arguments. It does not
appear that any grant, by which Hickes and Wagstaffe
were authorized to act as diocesan Bishops, was pro-
duced : though had such been the case, it would have
been of no avail, as the deprived Bishops possessed no
such power.

Brokesby attended his friend Dodwell in his last hours,
and afterwards, as has been stated before, wrote his life.
He died suddenly soon after that publication, in 1715.
He wrote, besides the works alluded to, — 1. K Life of
Jesus Christ. 2. A History of the Government of the
Christian Church for the three first centuries, and the
beginning of the fourth ; printed by W. B. 1712, 8vo. —
BroJt'esby's Life of Dodu.eU. Nichols's Hist, of Hinckley and
of Leicestershire. Lathhury. Marshall.

BROMPTON, JOHN.

There is a Chronicle which goes under the name of
John Brompton, Abbot of Jorvaulx in Yorkshire, which,
commencing with the mission of Augustine in 588, termin-
ates with the death of Richard the First, in 1198. Bishop
Nicholson observes that it is not probable that this history
was written by any member of the abbey of Jorvaulx, since
it takes no notice of the foundation of that monastery. He
supposes that Abbot Brompton only procured the Chro-

lU BROUGHTON.

nicle and bestowed it on the monastery. It is only as
the author of this Chronicle that the name of Brompton
is known. The author is very full of his collections for
the Saxon times, but takes no notice of the chronological
part in the whole history of the heptarchy. In this he has
not been very inquisitive : for example, he concludes his
account of Northumberland where Bede's history leaves
him. He gives the Saxon laws at large and translates
them, according to Nicholson, pretty honestly, although
in what he borrows from the old Chronicle he is not so
correct. Whoever was the author of the Chronicle it is
certain that he lived after the beginning of the reign of
Edward III., as appears by his digressive relation of the
contract between Joan, King Edward's sister, and David,
afterw^ards King of Scots. This historian has borrowed
pretty freely from Hoveden. His Chronicle is printed in
the "Decem Script. Hist. Angliae," Lond. 1652, folio. —
Nicholsons Historical Library. Selden Prcef. ad X. Script.
Angl. inter quos Brompton.

BROUGHTON, HUGH.

Hugh Broughton was born at Oldbury, in Shropshire,
in 1549, and was educated at a school at Houghton,
founded by Barnard Gilpin. Thence he was sent to
Cambridge, became one of the fellows of Christ's College,
and there laid the foundation of his knowledge of Hebrew,
in which he afterwards made such remarkable proficiency.
His application and learning soon rendered him very con-
spicuous at the university, and also attracted the notice
of the Earl of Huntingdon, who became a liberal patron
to him, and greatly encouraged him in his studies. He
was considered to be the best oriental scholar in the
world. He was, however, reluctant to take holy orders, as
he well might be, for he seems never to have brought his
pride and temper under the controul of religion. It was
at Archbishop Whitgift's solicitation that he at length

BROUGHTON. 135

consented to be ordained, the archbishop suggesting that if
he refused it would be supposed that he was opposed to
the doctrine of Episcopacy. "Divers years after," says
Strype, " he endeavoured to obtain a prebend in St.
Paul's, London, to read the lecture there, (if I mistake
not:) and in order to that, addressed a letter to the said
Lord Treasurer, reminding him of his former intercession
for the procuring him Nassington But Mr. Broughton's
carriage was so haughty, and his temper so rigid and so
censorious, that however affected x\rchbishop Whitgift
was towards him, he got do preferment in the Church ;
which soured his disposition more and more, especially
towards Archbishop Whitgift."

Notwithstanding his faults he became a popular
preacher in London, where he obtained the patronage of
some persons of high rank : he still however prosecuted
his studies with unremitting assiduity, and the result
appeared in a work, called The Concent of Scriptures,
which was published in 1584 or 1585, with a dedication
to Queen Elizabeth. The work gave rise to much con-
troversy, and is thus alluded to by Strype in his Life of
Archbishop Whitgift : " He affirmed, (which was the pur-
pose of his whole book,) that the book of God had so great
an harmony, that every part of it might be known to
breathe from one Spirit. And in this book he made use,
he said, of all the ancient Hebrews and Greeks. And in
another epistle of his to the Queen, describing this book,
he wrote, that the sum thereof was, ' That God had
recorded the world s age from the promise of redemption
unto His performance of it.' "

" Divers years after, reflecting upon his Concent, thus
he represented it ; ' That little book, that drew all the
Scripture unto Christ, and shewed the use of every parcel
of it, from the beginning to the end : carrying half a score
of several hard and needful studies thither ; and ex-
amining all authors, not only in their own tongues, but
their own vein and course of study.' Notwithstanding
the great character and opinion the author had of his

136 BROUGHTON.

work, it seemed so odd a piece, that it came out at first
with great prejudice : that even the Archbishop himself
said of it to the Queen, that ' it contained but the curious
quirks of a youDg head.' Which speech coming to
Broughton's ears, being an haughty conceited man, he
printed this severe animadversion thereupon : ' If the
prelate i^said he) had studied one and thirty years, ever
since he was doctor, how in one speech to shew himself
extremely void of all grounds of learning, and of all con-
science for the truth, and of all care whose ears to infect
with atheism ; the tempter could hardly cany him
Ei^wypr/xEvov into parts more injurious to all holy writers.'"

The work was in 1589 strongly opposed by Dr. Rey-
nolds at Oxford, and Broughton wrote several tracts in
vindication of his own opinions ; and the controversy
between these two divines seems to have excited much
interest, not only in the university but in London and
throughout the country. A meeting between them was at
one time effected, when Reynolds admitted that he had
not studied these matters, and promised to yield if he
saw reason for doing so. They agreed in 1591 to submit
the subject in dispute to the arbitration of Archbishop
Whitgift, and it appears, from a letter from Broughton to
the Vice-chancellor of Oxford, that the censure of the
archbishop was, " that never any human pains was of
greater travail and dexterity; that against 1500 years'
errors, to clear the holy story, as the Book of Concent had
done." But the Archbishop's private judgment would not
serve Broughton's turn, (so weighty he esteemed the
matter, as well as his own reputation,) but he solicited the
Queen herself, " that she would enjoin the Archbishop to
make his censure public. And that then upon her
Majesty's commandment it would be surer ; for the better
strengthening of her Majesty's subjects in love and
honour of holy Scripture : which had been greatly weak-
ened by Dr. R. calling matters in question, &c. And for
vindicating a truth for the clearing of those sacred books :
adding, that the cause was not his, but the Church's."

BROUGHTON. 137

His work was opposed not only at Oxford, but at Cam-
bridge. He was, therefore, induced to read lectures in
defence of his performance, which he did first in St.
Paul's and afterwards in a large room in Cheapside, and
in Mark-lane.

During part of the time of his controversy with
Reynolds, Broughton was abroad. He had gone to Ger-
many in 1589, and staid some time at Frankfort, where
he had a long dispute in the Jewish synagogue with
Rabbi Elias, on the truth of the Christian religion. He
appears to have been very solicitous for the conversion of
the Jews ; and his taste for R^abbinical and Hebrew
studies naturally led him to take pleasure in the conver-
sation of those learned Jews whom he occasionally met
with. In the course of his travels, he had also disjDutes
with the Papists, but in his contests both with them and
with the Jews, he was not very attentive to the rules
either of prudence or politeness.

In 1594, after his return to England, he was involved
in a new controversy by An Explication of the Article of
Christ's Descent into Hell. He strongly opposed the
Genevan doctrine upon this point: the minds of the
Archbishop and some others among our leading eccle-
siastics, had not been made up upon the subject, and
Broughton took the view which is now generally adopted
by Anglicans. But his violent temper and want of all
Christian courtesy always placed him in the wrong. He
was always seeking preferment, and violent beyond all
precedent in his expressions of disappointment when he
found that Archbishop Whitgift, although at one time his
friend, would neither do any thing for him himself nor
advise the Queen to promote him. His anger scarcely
knew any bounds when, in 1597, Dr. Bancroft was ap-
pointed to the see of London. He said that he had had
a promise of llhat bishopric from some of the Lords of the
Council ; and it may have been so; but they could hardly
have advanced so impassioned a man to so important a

VOL. III. N

im BROUGHTOK

post. Every one admitted his learning, but his violence,
pride, and vanity were intolerable.

In 1597 he was in Germany again, and published a
piece called The Sinai Sight, which he dedicated to the
Earl of Essex. He appears to have continued abroad till
the death of Queen Elizabeth ; and during his residence
in foreign countries, cultivated an acquaintance with
Scaliger, Raphelengius, Junius, Pistorius, Serrarius, and
other eminent and learned men. He was treated with
particular favour by the Archbishop of Mentz, to whom
he dedicated his translation of the prophets into Greek ;
and it is said that he was also offered a cardinal's hat, on
condition of his embracing the Roman Catholic religion.
He returned to England soon after the accession of King
James I.

Broughton had always been a vehement advocate for a
new translation of the Bible, to which Archbishop Whit-
gift had been opposed, being unwilling to throw suspicion
on the then authorized version, called the Bishop's Bible.
Broughton, with his usual violence had opposed Whitgift,
and had attacked the Bishop's Bible with such acrimony,
that, w^ien, in 160T, the present authorized version was
commenced, of which the Bishop's Bible was to be the
basis, Broughton, to his own indignation and that of his
friends, was not employed. Broughton, with his usual
confidence, however, took it upon himself to advise the
King how to proceed, and suggested rules and directions
for tiie translators which., if ado[)ted, would have rendered
his own exclusion scarcely possible, for he was certainly
one of the most distinguished Hebraists of the age. In
one of his letters to the King he told him, " that his
highness had begun a royal work, in commanding that a
good translation of the Bible should be made, if with
equal care and authority his highness required all that
learning could do to be performed, and saw ft done. And
then this one book would match, he said, whole libraries
for all hooks, (except the original Bible,) as the Pope's

BROUGHTON. 139

library, the French King's, the Palatine, the Bavarian,
with that of Augsburgh. Adding, that all would not
profit so much as one translation from exquisite learning,
care, and furniture." And then directing how it should
be gone upon, '* That many should translate a part. And
when they had brought a good English style, and the
true sense, a new labour others should take to make an
uniformity [i. e. that divers words might not be used
where the original word was the same ; that so the whole
translation might agree.] And that if seventy- two persons
w^re set to translate, in memory of the ancient seventy-
two Greek translators ; and many to try how uniformity
was kept; and after all, one qualified for difficulties [mean-
ing, as it seems, himself] should run through the whole
^vork, and should read upon the places of difficulty, in
Gresham College, to be judged of all men ; and after all,
-should print from Hebrews and Greeks, notes of his
strength ; and in all the realm, even Papists should have
for the first impression (made for a trial) free speech : it
would be a mighty help to understand the Hebrew and
Greek Testaments^ and win great credit among nations
near us. He added, that it was very needful, that many
others [mechanics and artificers] should be likewise at
such a work, &c. embroiderers should help for terms about
Aaron's ephod : geometricians, carpenters, masons, about
the Temple of Solomon and Ezekiel : gardeners, for all
the boughs and branches of Ezekiel's tree ; to match the
variety of the Hebrew terms."

Broughton had translated the prophetical writings into
Greek, and the Apocalypse into Hebrew. He was desirous
of translating the whole New Testament into Hebrew,
which he thought would have contributed much to the
conversion of the Jews, if he had met with proper encour-
agement. And he relates that a learned Jew with whom
he conversed, once said to him, " O that you would set
over all your New Testament into such Hebrew as you
speak to me, you should turn all our nation,"

Broughton soon after returned to the Continent, and

140 BROUGHTON.

during his stay there, he was for some time preacher to
the English at Middleburgh. But finding his health
dedine, he returned to England in November, 1611. He
lodged in Loudon during the winter, at a friend s house
in Cannon-street ; but in the spring he was removed, for
the benefit of the air, to the house of another friend, at
Tottenham High Cross, where he died on the 4th of
August, 161-2.

Most of his works were collected together, and printed
at London in 1662, under the following title, — The
Works of the great Albionean Divine, renowned in many
Nations for rare Skill in Salem's and Athens' Tongues,
and familiar Acquaintance with all llabbinical Learning,
Mr. Hugh Broughton. This edition of his works, though
bound in one large volume, folio, is divided into four
tomes. Many of his theological MSS. are preserved in
the British Museum, of which a list is given in Ayscough's
catalogue. — From Strype's Life of TVhitgift, and the Biog.
Brit. "

BRUUGHTON, RICHARD.

KicHARD Broughton was born at Great Stukely, in
Huntingdonshire, and educated at Oxford ; but apostatiz-
ing from the Church of England, he afterwards went to
the English College at Rheims. In 1593 he took orders,
after which he became a missionary in England. He died
in 1634. His works are — 1. An Ecclesiastical History of
(Treat Britain, folio, 1633. 2. A true Memorial of the
Ancient, Holy, and Religious State of Great Britain^
1650, octavo. 3. Monasticon Britannicum, 1655, octavo.
— Wood. Bod. Fuller.

BROUGHTON, THOMAS.

Thomas Broughton was born in London in 1704. He
was educated at Eton, from whence he removed to Gon-
ville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he proceeded

BROUGHTON. 141

to his degree of master of arts. In 1T39 he was instituted
to the rectory of Stibington in Huntingdonshire, soon
lifter which he was chosen reader at the Temple Church,
where he gained the favour of Bishop Sherlock, who in
1744 gave him the vicarage of Bedminster, and St. Mary
Eedcliffe, Bristol, with a prebend in the cathedral of
Salisbuiy. He died at Bristol in 1774. Mr. Broughtou
was one of the writers of the great Historical Dictionary,
and the Biographia Britannica ; besides which he pub-
lished,— 1. Christianity distinct from the Religion ^tif
Nature, in three parts, in answer to Christianity as Old
as the Creation. 2. Translation of Voltaire's Temj^le
of Taste. 8. Preface to his Father's Letter to a Roman
Catholic. 4. Alteration of Dorrel on the Epistles and
fxospels from a Popish to a Protestant Book, -2 vols.
8vo. 5. Part of the new edition of Bayle's Dictionary,
in English, corrected, with a Translation of the Latin
and other Quotations. 6. Jarvis's Don Quixote, the lan-
guage thoroughly altered and corrected, and the poetical
parts new translated. 7. Translation of the Mottoes of
the Spectator, Guardian, and Freeholder. 8. Original
Poems and Translations, by John Dryden, Esq., now
first collected and published together, 2 vols. 9. Trans-
lation of the Quotations in Addison's Travels, by hiin
left untranslated. 10. The First and Third Olynthiacs,
and the Four Philippics of Demosthenes (by several
hands), revised and corrected ; with a new Translation ot
the Second Olynthiac, the Oration De Pace, and that De
Chersonese; to which are added, all the Arguments of
Libanius, and Select Notes from Ulpian, 8vo. Lives in
the Biographia Britannica. 11. The Bishops of London
and Winchester on the Sacrament, compared. 12. Her-
cules, a musical drama. 13. Bibliotheca Historico-Sacra,
an Historical Dictionary of all Religions, from the Crea-
tion of the World to the present Times, 1756, two vols,
folio. 14. A Defence of the commonly received Doctrine
of the Human Soul. 15. A Prospect of Futurity, in fouv
n2

14^ BROWN.

Dissertations, with a Preliminary Discourse on the Natural
and Moral Evidence of a Future State. — Biog. Brit.

BROWEE, CHRISTOPHER.

Christopher Brower was born at Arnheiin, in 1559,
He became a member of the College at Cologne, in 1580,
where he was distinguished for his talents. He taught
philosophy at Treves, was afterwards rector of the College
ofFulde, and chiefly employed at his leisure hours in
composing his works, which procured him the esteem of
many men of learning, especially Cardinal Baronius, who
often mentions him in his Annals of the Church in terms
of high commendation. He died in 1617. He published
an edition of Venantius Fortunatus, with notes and addi-
tions, Cologne, 16'24, 4to; Scholia on the Poems of
Rabanus Maurus, in vol. vi. of the works of Maurus ;
Antiquitates Fulclenses, 1619, 4to; Sidera Illustrium et
S. S. Virorum qui Germaniam Rebus Gestis ornarunt,
Mentz, 1616, 4to; Historia Episcopomm Trevirensiuin,
&c., Cologne, 16*26. He had also a principal hand in the
Antiquities and Annals of Treves, 1626, 2 vols folio, and
reprinted 1670 ; but some antiquaries are of opinion
that in his anxiety to give correct copies of certain ancient
documents, he took liberties with the originals which tend
to lesson the authority of his transcripts. — Moreri.

BROWN, ROBERT.

Robert Brown, the celebrated founder of the Inde-
pendents or Congregationalists, was born, according to
Heylin, at Tolthorp, in the county of Rutland. Some
authorities make Northampton the place of his birth. But
it is certain that his family was settled at Tolthorp, and
was nearly allied to that of Lord Burleigh. He was edu-
cated at Corpus Christi College, commonly called Bennet

BROWN. 143

College, in the University of Cambridge. It does not ap-
pear that he graduated there, but he frequently preached
and with great vehemence, which the followers of Cart-
wright, who claimed him for their own. attributed to zeal.
But Brown soon outstripped his guide. Cavtwright held
the lucrative and exalted station of jNIargaret Professor,
and though willing to bring others to his own level, he
did not desire to annihilate an establishment but only to
deface from it all the vestiges of Catholicism, and to bring
in Presbyterianism.

Brown carried out the puritanical principles to their
full extent : he declaimed against the government of
Christ's Holy Church as antichristian : her Sacraments
he affirmed were defiled with superstition; her liturgy
was reviled as Popish, and in some parts, heathenish,
and her ordinations he asserted to be no better than
those of Baal's priests among the Jews.

Not able to abide any longer in a church he thought
so corrupt, he went to Zealand, and joined a Cougre-
gation at Middleburgh formed on C arf.v right s model ;
but this did not satisfy him, and he determined to
have a Congregation entirely of his own formation. In
1582 he published a book, entitled, "A Treatise of
Reformation," and having sent as many of them to
England as might serve his turn, he returned to this
country soon after to reduce his theory to practice.
His chief positions were, — That every congregation of
Christian men constitutes a Church, of which all the
members are equal, and are competent, jure divino, to
instruct and govern themselves. He thus equally rejected
the jurisdiction of Bishops, and that of synods, which the
Puritans regarded as the supreme visible source of ecclesi-
astical authority ; neither did he allow any distinctive or in-
delible character to ministers of religion. Every member of
the Church had a vote in all matters of religion ; and it was
thus that ministers were made and unmade, as expediency
or caprice might require. As a single congregation con-
stituted a church, so the power of their officers was defined

144 BROWN.

by its limits ; they had no authority to administer the
sacraments to any but those of their own society. More-
over, all being equal, a lay brother might officiate as
pastor ; and it was usual for some of them, after sermon,
to ask questions, and to reason upon the doctrines of the
preacher.

The Dutch had a clmrch at this time at Norwich more
numerous than any church or congregation within the
precincts of the city, many of whom, says Heylin, " in-
clining to the opinions of the Anabaptists, were willing to
embrace any doctrines which seemed to hold conformity
wdth that sect. Amongst them Brown begins, and first
begins with such amongst them as were most likely to be
ruled and governed by him ; he being of an imperious
nature, and much offended with the least dissent or con-
tradiction, when he had uttered any paradox in his dis-
courses. Having gotten into some authority amongst the
Dutch, whose language he had learned when he lived in
Middleburgh, and grown into a great opinion for his
zeal and sanctity, he began to practise with the English ;
using therein the service and assistance of one Richard
Harrison, a country schoolmaster, whose ignorance made
him apt enough to be seduced by so weak a prophet. Of
each nation he began to gather churches to himself, of the
last especially ; inculcating nothing more to his simple
auditors, than that the Church of England had so much
of Rome, that there was no place left for Christ, or His
holy Gospel. But more particularly he inveighed against
the government of the Bishops, the ordination of minis-
ters, the offices, rites and ceremonies of the public Liturgy,
according as it had been taught out of Cartwright's books ;
descending first to this position. That the Church of Eng-
land was no true and lawful church ; and afterwards to
this conclusion, that all true Christians were obliged to
come out of Babylon, to separate themselves from those
impure and mixed assemblies, in which there was so little
of£hrist's institution ; and finally, that they should join
themselves to him and to his disciples, amongst whom there

BROWN. 145

was nothing to be found which favoured not directly of the
Spirit of God ; nothing of those impurities and profana-
tions of the Church of England. Hereupon followed a
defection from the Church itself; not as before amongst
the Presbyterians, from some offices in it. Brown's fol-
lowers (who from him took the name of Brownists) refusing
obstinately to join with any congregation with the rest of
tlie people, for hearing the word preached, the Sacraments
administered, and any public act of religious worship."

His attacks upon the Church being extremely virulent,
he was convened before the Bishop of Norwich, and
other ecclesiastical commissioners ; and on his defending
his schism with great insolence, he was committed to
the custody of the Sheriff of Norwich. His relation. Lord
Burleigh, however, interceded with the Bishop for him,
on the ground that his excesses proceeded from mistaken
zeal rather than confirmed malice ; and having procured
his enlargement, sent him to Whitgift, xlrchbishop of
Canterbury, for admonition and council. In 1585 he
was again cited to appear before Archbishop Whitgift, and
being brought by this j^i'elate's judicious management to
assume an apparent conformity to the Church of England,
the Lord Treasurer Burleigh sent him to his father in the
country, with a letter recommending him to his favour
and countenance. Brown's errors, however, had taken too
deep root in him to be easily eradicated ; he soon relapsed
into his former errors, and his good old father resolving
not to own him for his son who would not own the Church
of England for his mother, dismissed him from his family.
After wandering up and down the country for some time,
and enduring great hardships. Brown at length settled at
Northampton ; but while he was industriously labouring
to establish his sect, Linsell, Bishop of Peterborough, sent
him a citation, which Brown not obeying he was excom-
municated for his contempt. The solemnity of this cen-
sure affected him so deeply, that he soon after made his
submission, and receiving absolution was re-admitted into
the communion of the Church about the vear 1 590, and was

4

f

146 BROWN.

soon after preferred to the rectory of Achurch near Thrap-
stone, in Northamptonshire. Fuller, who in his boyhood
knew him, is of opinion, that Brown never formally
recanted his errors, with regard to the main points of his
doctrine ; but that his promise of a general compliance
with the Church of England, improved by the countenance
of hivS patron and kinsman, the Earl of Exeter, prevailed
upon the Archbishop, and procured this extraordinary
favour for him. He adds, that Brown allowed a salary
for a curate, and though he opposed his parishioners in
judgment, yet agreed in taking their tithes. Brown was
a man of good parts and some learning, but was, according
to Fuller, of a nature imperious and uncontrollable, so far
from the Sabbatarian strictness, afterwards espoused by
some of his followers, that he rather seemed a libertine
therein. In a word, says Fuller, he had a wife with
whom he never lived, and a church in which he never
preached, though he received the profits thereof: and, as
all the other scenes of his life were stormy and turbulent,
so was his end ; for the constable of his parish, who was
his god-son, requiring somewhat roughly the payment of
certain rates, his passion moved him to blows, of which
the constable complained to justice St. John, who was
inclined rather to pity than punish him ; but Brown
behaved with so much insolence, that he was simt to
Northampton gaol, on a feather bed in a cart, being very
infirm, and aged above eighty years ; where he soon after
sickened and died, anno 1630, after boasting that he had
been committed to thirty-two prisons, in some of which he
could not see his hand at noon-day.

The chief of Brown's writings are contained in a thin
quarto volume, in three pieces, printed at Middleburgh in
158-2. The first is entitled, A Treatise of Reformation,
without tarrying for any man, &c. The second is, A
Treatise on the Twenty-third chapter of St. Matthew, &c.
The third, A Book w^hich showeth the Life and Manners
of. all True Christians, &c. A controversy, in 1599,
between Francis Johnson, a Brownist, and H, Jacob,

BROWN. 147

throws great light upon the peculiar doctrines of the
Brownists. From this work we subjoin a list of what
tlie early Independents regarded as the " Anti-chiistian
abominations yet retained in England."

1. The confusion of all sorts of people in the body of
their (the English) Church ; even the most polluted, and
their seed being members thereof. It then enumerates
all the officers and ministers of the Church, from the
Archbishop down even to the sexton and organ blower, all
of them of the anti-christian and viperous generation.
2. Their ministration of the Word, Sacraments, and
government of the Church by virtue of the officers afore-
said. The Brownists held that the evil life of the
minister took away the efficacy of the Sacraments. The
titles of Primate, Metropolitan, Lords, Grace, Lordship,
&c. ascribed to the prelates. 3. The inferior Prelates
swearing obedience to the metropolitical sees of Canterbury
and York. 4. The inferior ministers when they enter into
the ministry, promising obedience to the Prelates, and
their ordinances ; and when they are inducted to beuefices,
confirming it with their oath. 5. The Deacon's and
Priest's presentation to a Lord Bishop by an Archdeacon.
6. Their receiving of orders of the Prelates or their suf-
fragans. 7. Their pontifical, or book of consecrating
Bishops, and of ordering Priests and Deacons, taken out
of the Pope's pontifical, where their abuse of Scripture to
that end, their Collects, Epistles, &c. may be seen. 8.
Their making, and being made, Priests, with blasphemy ;
the Prelates saying to whom they make Priests, Pieceive
ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins ye forgive, they are for-
given, &c. 9. Their confounding of civil and ecclesiastical
offices and authorities in ecclesiastical persons. 10. Their
retaining and using in their public worship, the apocry-
phal books, which have in them divers errors, untruths,
blasphemies, and contradictions to the canonical Scrip-
tures. 11. Their stinted Prayers and Liturgy, taken out
of the Pope's mass book, with the same order of Psalms,
Lessons, Collects, Pater Nosters, Epistles, Gospels, Ver-

148 BROWN.

sides, Responds, &c. The Brownists, in general, rejected
all set forms of prayer, and held, that the Lord's Praj'er
ought not to be used as a prayer, in its present form of
words, being only intended as a model whereon our ex-
tempore prayers are to be formed. 12. The Cross in
Baptism. 13. The hallowed font, questions to the infants
at Baptism. 14. The godfathers and godmothers pro-
mising that the child doth believe, forsake the devil and
all his works, &c. 15. Women's baptizing of children;
which maintaineth that heresy, that the children are
damned, which die unbaptized. They would not allow
any children to be baptized, whose parents were not mem-
bers of the Church, or of such as did not take sufficient
care of the education of those formerly baptized. 16. Their
houseling of the sick, and ministering the communion to
one alone. 17. The ministering it, not with the words of
Christ's institution, but with others taken out of the
Pope's Portuis. 18. They sell that Sacrament for two-
pence to all comers. 19. The receiving of it kneeling,
which maketh it an idol, and nourisheth that heresy of
receiving their Maker, of worshiping it, &c. The reason
of our kneeling at the Sacrament, is explained in the
Rubric at the end of the Communion Service, for which
purpose it was inserted there in the reign of Edward VI.
20. Their ring in marriage, making it a sacramental sign,
and marriage an ecclesiastical action : thereby nourishing
the Popish heresy, that matrimony is a Sacrament. They
looked upon matrimony as a political contract, and there-
fore said, that the confirmation of it ought to come from
the Civil Magistrate ; and hence they condemned the
solemn celebration of marriages in the Church. 21. Their
praying over the dead, making it also a part of the minis-
ter's duty, and nourishing the heresy of prayer for the
dead. 22. Their churching or purifying of women, then
also abusing that Scripture, The Sun shall not burn
them by day, nor the Moon by night. 23. Their Gang
week, and praying then over the corn and grass. At the
time of the Reformation, when processions, which made a

BROWN. 140

part of the solemnities at this season, were abolished, l.y
reason of the abuse of them, yet, for retaining the per-
ambulation of the circuits of parishes, it was enjoined,
' that the people should once a year, at the accustomed
time, with the minister and substantial men of the parish,
walk round the parish as usual, and at their return to
Church, make the common prayers : provided that the
minister, at certain convenient places, shall admonish the
people to give thanks to God for the increase and abund-
ance of the fruits of the earth, repeating the 103rd Psalm ;
at which time also the minister shall inculcate tliis and
such like sentences : Cursed be he that removeth his
neighbours land-mark.' No such prayers indeed have
been since appointed : but there is an Homily, divided
into four parts ; the three first to be used on the ^Monday,
Tuesday, and Wednesday ; and the fourth upon the day
when the pra-ish make their procession. ;i4. Their for-
bidding of marriage in Gang week, in Advent, in Lent,
and on all the Ember days ; which the Apostle calleth a
doctrine of Devils, 1 Tim. iv. 1, "2, 3. "25. Their saints',
angels', and apostles' days, with their prescript service. '2Q.
Their fasts, and abstaining from flesh, on their eves, on
Fridays, Saturdays, Ember Days, and all Lent through.
U7. Their dispensations from the Prelates' courts of Facul-
ties, to eat fltsh at these times ; which dispensations also
have this wholesome clause in them, sana conscientia,
that is, with a safe conscience : plainly shewing that they
make it a matter of conscience. This is another doctrine
of Devils, noted in the Scripture before alleged, 1 Tim. iv.
28. Their dispensations in like manner to marry in the
times among the forbidden, which are noted before. 29.
Licenses from the same authority, to marry in places ex-
empt. 30. Dispensations also from thence, for boys and
ignorant fools to have benefices. 3L Dispensations also
for non-residents. 32. For having tv.o, three, four, or
more benefices, even tot, quot, that is to say, as many as
a man will have and can get. 33. Tolerations. 34. Patron-

VOL. III. • 0

150 BROWN.

ages of, and presentations to, benefices, with buying and
selling of advowsons. 35. Their institutions into bene-
fices by the Prelates, their inductions, proxies, &c. 36.
Their suspensations, absolutions, degradations, depriva-
tions, &c. 37. The Prelates, Chancellors, and Commis-
sarie's courts, having power to excommunicate alone, and
to absolve. 38. Their Penance in a white sheet. 39. Their
commutation of Penance, and absolving one man for
another, 40. The Prelate's Confirmation, or Bishopping
of children, to assure them of God's favour, by a sign of
man s devising. 41. The standing at the Gospel. 42. The
putting off the cap, and making a leg when the word
Jesus is read. 43. The ring of peals at burials. They
objected against bells, because they pretended they were
consecrated to the service of idolatry. 44. Bead-men at
burials, and hired mourners in mourning apparel. 45.
The hanging and mourning of churches and hearses with
black, at burials. 46. Their absolving the dead, dying
excommunicate, before they can have, as they say, Chris-
tian burial. 47. The Idol temples. 48. The Popish
vestments, as rochet, horned cap, tippet, the sui-plice in
parish churches, and cope in cathedral churches. 49. The
Visitations of the Lord Bishops, and Archdeacons. 50.
The Prelates' lordly dominion, revenues, and retinue.
51. The Priests' maintenance by tithes, Christmas offer-
ings, &c. 52. The oaths ex officio in their ecclesiastical
courts, making men swear to accuse themselves. 53. The
churchwarden's oath to present to the Prelates, all the
offences, faults, and defaults, committed in their parishes,
against their articles and injunctions. 54. The Prelates'
ruling of the Church, by the Pope's cursed Canon Law.
55. Finally, their imprisoning and banishing, such as
renounce and refuse to witness these abominations afore-
said, and the rest yet retained among them. They might
well find fault with the Church for this last article, since
they had smarted so severely under it. — Heylins Histonj
of Prednjterians. Fullers Church History.

BROWN. 151

BRO^-N, JOHN.

John BRO^^^' was born at Herpoo, in the county of
Perth, in 172Q. He was chosen pastor of a congregation
of seceders at Haddington, where also he conducted a
seminary for youth. He died in 1787. His works are :
1. The Self-interpreting Bible, '2 vols, 4to. 2. A Dicti-
onary of the Bible, 2 vols, 8vo. 3. Explication of Scrip-
ture Metaphors, 12mo. 4. History of the Seceders, ]*2mo.
5. The Christian Student and Pastor, 12mo. 6. Letters
on the Government of the Christian Church, 8vo. 7.
General History of the Church, 2 vols, 12mo. 8. Select
Piemains, with his Life prefixed. — Watkins.

BROWN, JOHN.

John Brown was born at Rothbury, in Northumberland,
in 1715. He was educated first at Wigton, in Cumber-
land, and next at St. John's College, Cambridge, where, in
1735, he took his degree of B. A., and two jeax% after
entered into orders. His first settlement was at Carlisle,
where he became minor canon of the cathedral ; and in
the rising of 1745 acted as a volunteer on the Hanoverian
side. Dr. Osbaldiston, Bishop of the diocese, made him
his chaplain, and the dean and chapter gave him the
living of Morel and in Westmoreland- His poem called
" An Essay on Satire," addressed to Warburton, brought
him acquainted with that writer, who introduced him to
Mr. Allen at Prior Park. While here, he preached a
sermon at Bath against gaming, which had a very great
effect. In 1751 appeared his Essays on Shaftesbury's
Characteristics, written with elegance. This was his
chief work It was suggested to him by Warburton, and
to Warburton by Pope, who told him that the " Character-
istics" had done more harm to revealed religion than all
the Avorks of infidelity put together. In 1754 he obtained
the living of Great Horkesley in Essex, and the next year
his tragedy of Barbarossa w^as acted with success, whicli

152 BROWNE.

was followed by another called Athelstan. He now took
his doctor's degree, and in 1757 published the first volume
of his Estimate of the Manners and Principles of the
Times, of which seven editions were soon printed. The
year following appeared the second volume. About this
time he was presented to the vicarage of St. Nicholas, in
Newcastle, on which he resigned Great Horkeslej, and
was appointed chaplain in ordinary to the King. His
next publication was the Cure of Saul, a sacred ode ;
which was followed by a "Dissertation on Poetry and
Music." In 17(>4 appeared "The History of the Piise
and Pr-ogress of Poetiy," and the same year he printed a
volume of sermons. In 1765 came out bis "Thoughts on
Civil Liberty, Licentiousness, and Faction ;" and a sermon
preached for the benefit of the female asylum. In 1766
he published a letter to Dr. Lowth, who had alluded to
hioi as one of Dr. Warburton's sycophants. He now
engaged to go to Petersburg to assist in the regulation
of public schools ; but while preparing for the voyage,
he cut his throat in a fit of insanity, September '2S.
l-iQ(j.—Gen. DicL

BROWNE, GEORGE.

George Browne, celebrated as being the first Prelate
of the Church of Ireland who promoted in it the cause of
tije Preformation, was originally an Augustine friar of Lon-
don, and had received his academical education in the
house belonging to his order at Holywell in Oxford.
Having became eminent among his brethren, he was
n;ade provincial of that order in England; and afterwards
taking his degree of doctor of divinity, in some foreign
university, he was incorporated in the same at Oxford in
1534, and at Cambridge soon afterwards. In the follow-
ing march, he was advanced by King Henry the Eighth
to the archbishopric of Dublin, which had been vacant
since the preceding July. It is reasonable to suppose
that the interval had t>een employed in making choice of

BROWNE. 153

a fit person for this elevated station, the arduoiisness and
importance of which were greatly enhanced by the peculiar
circumstances of the time. An acquaintance with the
writings of Luther, and an attachment to the principles of
the Reformation, together with his good personal qualities,
recommended him to the king's favour ; but his principal
patron was the Lord Privv Seal, Cromwell, who, under
the peculiar title of the king's vicegerent in ecclesiastical
matters, administered all the powers annexed to the king's
supremacy in England. Thus nominated by the royal
authority, having been elected to the see by the chapters
of the Holy Trinity and St. Patrick's, and having received
the royal assent on the l'2th of March, before his consecra-
tion, the mandate for which had been issued the day after
the royal assent, he was invested by Cranmer, Archbishop
of Canterbury, and Fisher and Shaxton, respectively
Bishops of Rochester and Salisbury, according to an act
then lately passed, with the pall and other archiepiscopal
ensigns ; and on the 23rd of March, writs w^ere issued for
restoring to him the temporalities of the see.

The Archbishop soon found his new seat of dignity to
be by no means one of repose and inaction, being promptly
called upon to take a prominent and resolute part on the
question of the supremacy, as well as on other matters
which were judged to need correction in the Churcli. A
body of commissioners was about this time appointed by
the king, to confer with the principal persons in the
country, for removing the Pope's authority from Ireland,
and for reducing that kingdom to a conformity with
England in acknowledging the sovereign power of the
crown, whether in things spiritual or temporal. Cromwell,
the Lord Privy Seal, who was the principal miiDister in the
conduct of this affair, seems to have anticipated no serious
impediment in early arriving at a favourable result. But
the difiSculties and perils of the undertaking were soon
experimcDtally felt by the Archbishop, by whoui the insuf-
ficiency of the commission, the obstacles which it had to
o -2

154 BFcOWXE.

siuraount, and the best method of supplying its defect
and giving efficacy to the king's intention, were pointed
out in a letter to his patron, of September the 6th, 1535,
which at the same time sets forth in a striking light the
illiteracy of the clergy, and the blind and superstitions
zeal of the people.

" My most honoured Lord,

"Your humble servant receiving your mandate, as one
of his highness's commissioners, hath endeavoured, almost
to the danger and hazard of this temporal life, to procure
the nobility and gentry of this nation to due obedience,
in owning of his highness tlieir supreme head, as well
spiritual as temporal ; and do find much oppugning
therein, especially by my brother Armagh, w^ho hath been
the main oppugner, and so withdrawn most of his suffra-
gans and clergy, with his see and jurisdiction. He made
a speech to them, laying a curse on the people, whosoever
should own his highness's supremacy : saying that this
isle, as it is in their Irish Chronicles, Insula Sapra, be-
longs to none but the Bishop of Rome, and that it was
the Bishop of Rome's predecessors gave it to the king's
ancestors. There be two messengers by the priests of
Armagh, and by that Archbishoi^, now lately sent to the
Bishop of Rome.

" Your Lordship may inform his highness, that it is
convenient to call a parliament in this nation to pass
the supremacy by act; for they do not much matter
his highness's commission, which your Lordship sent us
over.

" This island hath been for a long time held in ignor-
ance by the Romish orders. And as for their secular
orders, they be in a manner as ignorant as the people,
being not able to say mass, or pronounce the words, they
not knowing what they themselves say in the Roman
tongue. The common people of this island are more
^iealous in their blindness, than the saints and martyrs

BROWNE. 155

were in the truth at the beginning of the Gospel. I send
Tou, mv very good Lord, these things, that your Lordship
and his highness may consult what is to be done. It is
feared O'Neil will be ordered by the Bishop of Rome to
oppose your Lordship's orders from the King's highness :
for the natives are much in numbers within his po\\ers.
I do pray the Lord Christ to defend your LordshijD from
your enemies."

In pursuance of the Archbishop's advice, a Parliament
was holden at Dublin in the spring of the year 1587,
under Leonard Lord Gray, the Lord Deputy.

Confidential communications from the King's ecclesias-
tical Vicegerent most probably made known what mea-
sures would be acceptable to the King, x^nd hereupon a
bill was introduced for enacting, " that the King, his
heirs and successors, should be the supreme head on
earth of the Church of Ireland, and should have power
and authority, from time to time, to visit, reform, restrain,
and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offences,
contempts and enormities, whatsoever they be. which by
any manner, spiritual authority, or jurisdiction, ought or
may lawfully be reformed, restrained, or amended, most
to the pleasure of Almighty God, the increase of virtue in
Christ's religion, and for the conservation of peace, unity,
and tranquillity of this land of Ireland ; any usage,
custom, foreign laws, foreign authority, prescription, or
any other thing or things to the contrary notwith-
standing."

Another bill was introduced for taking away all appeals
to Rome in spiritual causes, and referring all such ap-
] teals to the crown; and another, specifically "against
the authority of the Bishop of Rome ;" recounting the
various mischiefs, temporal and spiritual, which attended
the usurped authority of the Bishop of Rome, by some
called the Pope, and the necessity of excluding such
foreign pretended power, forbidding all persons, on pain
of premunire, to extol or maintain, by writing or any act.

156 BROWNE.

the authority, jurisdiction, or power of the Bishop of
Rome within this realm ; giving order to the justices of
assize and of peace, to inquire of offences against this
act, as of other offences against the King s peace ; com-
manding all Archbishops, Bishops, and Archdeacons,
their commissaries, vicars-general, and other their minis-
ters, to make inquiry of such eeclesiastical persons as
offend ; imposing an oath of supremacy on all ecclesiasti-
cal and lay officers ; and enacting that an obstinate refusal
so to do, be, and be punished as, high treason.

The jDassing of these bills, in assertion of the King's
supremacy, and in contradiction and to the annihilation
of the Pope's, was attended with much difficulty, espe-
cially from the opposition of many spiritual peers. But
the foresight which had dictated the measure was not
wanting in energy to enforce it ; and the occasion called
forth from the Archbishop of Dublin the following speech,
distinguished more for its straightforwardness, brevity,
and decision, than for deep argument or rhetorical
display.

" My Lords and Gentry of his Majesty's kingdom of
Ireland,
" Behold, your obedience to your King is the observ-
ing of your Lord and Saviour Christ ; for He, that High
Priest of our souls, paid tribute to Ceesar, though no
Christian. Greater honour then surely is due to your
prince, his highness the King, and a Christian one.
Rome and her Bishops, in the Fathers' days, acknow-
ledged emperors, kings, and princes to be supreme over
their dominions, nay Christ's vicars ; and it is much to
the Bishop of Rome's shame to deny what their precedent
Bishops owned. Therefore his highness claims but what
he can justify the Bishop Eleutherius gave to St. Lucius,
the first Christian King of the Britons ; so that I shall,
without scrupling, vote his highness King Henry ray
supreme, over ecclesiastical matters as well as temporal,
and head thereof, even of both isles, England and Ire-

BROWNE. 157

land ; and that without guilt of conscience, or sin to God.
And he who will not pass this act, as I do, is no true sub-
ject to his highness."

This speech of the Archbishop was seconded by Jus-
tice Brabazon ; and whether the assembly was invited by
his example, or won by his reasoning, or controlled by
his firmness, or startled by his denunciation, the bills
overcame all opposition, and were passed into laws.

In the same Parliament several other acts were passed,
which had reference to ecclesiastical property, and mate-
rially affected the Church and the clergy.

The act for first fruits, taking for its j^recedent a similar
act in England, enacted that all 2:>ersons, nominated to any
ecclesiastical preferment, should pay to the King the pro-
fits for one year, to whomsoever the foundation, pationage,
or gift belong.

Another vested in him the first-fruits of abbeys, priories,
and hosjDitals : a previous act having provided for the
suppression of thirteen religious houses by name ; for the
assurance of pensions to the Abbots during their respec-
tive lives, and for the enjoyment of the possessions by
the patentees, to whom the King should have granted
them.

Another ordained, that the twentieth part of the profit
of all spiritual promotions be paid yearly to the King for
ever : an enactment so well pleasing to the King, that he
sent a particular letter of thanks to the Lords spiritual
for the grant.

Another prohibited the payment of Peter-pence pen-
sions, and other impositions, to the Bishop or see of
Piome, and the procuring of dispensations, licenses, and
faculties from thence; and authorized the granting of
them by commissioners appointed by the King, in the
same manner as by the Archbishop of Canterbury in
England.

By another act of the same Parliament, for encouraging
" the English ord^r, habit, and language," spiritual pro-
motions were directed to be given " only to such as could

158 BROWNE.

speak English, unless, after four proclamations in the next
market town, such could not be had." And an oath was
to be a(hninistered to " such as take orders, and to such
as are instituted to any benefice, that he would endeavour
to learn and teach the English tongue to all and every
being under his rule ; and to bid the beads in the Eng-
lish tongue, and preach the word of God in English, if
he can preach ; and to keep or cause to be kept within
his parish a school for to learn English, if any children
of his parish come to him to learn the same, taking for
the keeping of the same school such convenient stipend
or salary as in the same land is accustomably used to be
taken."

Archbishop Browne was now fairly at the head of the
movement party. The Archbishop of Armagh, Lord Pri-
mate, was the leader of the conservatives, and was strongly
opposed to his brother of Dublin. To such opposition an
additional stimulus was doubtless given by the endea-
vours, made at the same time by the Archbishop of Dub-
lin, for abolishing the false objects of Romish worship
from the churches within his jurisdiction. His two
cathedrals in particular, as there has been already occa-
sion to observe, abounded with these symbols of corrup-
tion. In the Church of the Holy Trinity, or Christ's
Church, the reliques and statues were innumerable ; and
in the walls of St. Patrick's a multitude of niches had
been furnished by the superstition of the times with
images of saints These endeavours were about coincident
in time with similar proceedings carried on under the
royal authority in England ; and the Archbishop acted
under the like authority, which had been recently acknow-
ledged in Ireland by the late statutes, having received
instructions from the Lord Cromwell to that effect. But
in executing these instructions he was met with opposi-
tion, not only from the Primate, but from those who were
next in authority to himself within his own diocese ;
namely, the Prior of the church of the Holy Trinity,
Bobert Castele, alias Payneswick, and Edward Bassenet,

BROWNE. 159

Dean of St. Patrick, who were tempted by the emolu-
ments accruing from those superstitious objects of venera-
tion to resist the King and the x\rchbishop, and to seek
support in their resistance from the Pope.

Notwithstanding the zeal of Archbishop Browne for the
establishment of the royal prerogative he seems, for some
cause not apparent, to have fallen this time under the
displeasure of the capricious tyrant whom he served, and
from whom he received an angry letter. The Archbishop
vindicated his conduct, and the matter dropped.

In the meantime commissioners had been appointed
by the government to enquire into the state of the king-
dom, who held inquests relative to the several counties
and towns which they visited. Besides the complaints
against the laity some were preferred against the clergy,
and these serve to shew the state of the Irish establish-
ment at that period. Undue fees were exacted by the
Bishops and their officials for the probate of wills, and
for judgment in matrimonial and other causes. Various
priests were charged with extortion in the fees demanded
for baptisms, for weddings, for the purification of women,
and for burials. Some are accused for taking portion
canon, which is explained, in one parish, to have been the
taking, on a man's death, of his best array, arms,
sword, and knife ; and the same, even on the death of a
wife during her husband's life : in another parish, to have
been the taking from the husband, on his wife's death,
of the fifth penny, if his goods were under twenty shil-
lings ; and five shillings, if above that amount : and in a
third parish, the taking of one penny three farthings in
the shilling. Some parsons, abbots, and priors, were
charged with not singing mass, though they took the pro-
fits of their benefices : and the jury of Clonmell charged
several of the regular priests in that part with keeping
lemans or harlots, and having wifes and children.

We have a further description of the state of the Irish
clergy in a letter from Archbishop Browne himself,

160 BROWNE.

written on the 3th of April, 1538, to the Lord Cromwell
himself.

" Right honourable and my singular good Lord,

" I acknowledge my bounden duty to your Lordship's
good-will to me, next to my Saviour Christ's, for the place
I now possess ; I pray God give me His grace to execute
the same to His glory, and his Highness's honour, with
your Lordship's instructions. The people of this nation
be zealous, yet blind and unknowing ; most of the clergy,
as your Lordship has had from me before, being ignorant,
and not able to speak right words in the mass or liturgy,
as being not skilled in the Latin grammar ; so that a bird
may be taught to speak with as much sense, as several of
them do in this country. These sorts, though not
scholars, yet are crafty to cozen the poor common people,
and to dissuade them from following his highness's
orders : George, my brother of Armagh, doth underhand
occasion quarrels, and is not active to execute his high-
ness's orders in his diocese. I have observed your Lord-
ship's letter of commission, and do find several of my
pupils leave me for so doing. I will not put others in
their livings till I know your Lordship's pleasure; for it is
meet 1 acquaint you first, the Romish relics and images
of both my cathedrals in Dublin, of the Holy Trinity and
of St. Patrick's, took ofif the common people from the true
worship, but the prior and the dean find them so sweet
for their gain, that they heed not my words : therefore
send in your Lordship's next to me an order more full,
and a chide to them and their canons, that they might be
removed. Let the order be, that the chief governors may
assist me in it. The prior and dean have written to
Rome, to be encouraged ; and if it be not hindered before
they have a mandate from the Bishop of Rome, the people
will be bold, and then tug long before his highness can
submit them to his grace's orders. The country folk here
much hate your Lordship, and despitefully call you in

BROWNE. 101

their Irish tongue, the blacksmith's son. The Duke of
Norfolk is by Armagh and that clergy, desired to assist
them, not to suffer his highness to alter Church rules
here in Ireland. As a friend, I desire your Lordship to
look to your noble person ; for Rome hath a great kindness
for that duke (for so it is talked here) and will reward him
and his children. Rome has great favours for this nation,
purposely to oppose his highness ; and so having got,
since the act passed, great indulgences for rebellion, there-
fore my hope is lost, yet my zeal is to do according to
your Lordship's orders. God keep your Lordship from
your enemies here and in England." Dublin the third
Kalends April 1538.

It was not long before the predictions of the Arch-
bishop were fulfilled. In May, 1538, he had to convey to
Cromwell the intelligence of the unjustifiable and wicked
proceedings of the Pope and his party, in the following
letter : —

*' Right honourable,

" My duty premised : it may please your Lordship to
be advertised, sithence my last, there has come to Armagh
and his clergy, a private commission from the Bishop of
Rome, prohibiting his gi'acious highness's people, here in
this nation, to own his royal supremacy ; and joining a
curse to all them and theirs, w^ho shall not within forty
days confess to their confessors, after the publishing of it
to them, that they have done amiss in so doing. The
substance, as our secretary hath translated the same into
English, is thus : —

" ' I, A. B., from this present hour forward, in the
presence of the Holy Trinity, of the Blessed Virgin,
mother of God, of St. Peter, of the holy apostles, arch-
angels, angels, saints, and of all the holy host of heaven,
shall and will be always obedient to the Holy See of
St. Peter of Ptome, and to my holy Lord the Pope of Rome,
and his successors, in all things, as well spiritual, as tem-

VOL. III. p

16a BROWNE.

poral, not consenting in the least that his holiness shall
lose the least title or dignity belonging to the Papacy of
our mother Church, or to the regality of St. Peter.

" ' I do vow and swear to maintain, help, and assist
the just laws, liberties, and rights of the mother Church
of Rome.

" * I do likewise promise to confer, defend, and promote,
if not personally, yet willingly, as in ability able, either by
advice, skill, estate, money, or otherwise, the Church of
Rome, and her laws, against all whatsoever resisting the
same.

'• ' I further vow to oppugn all heretics, either in
making or setting forth edicts or commands, contrary to
the mother Church of Rome ; and in case any such to be
moved or composed, to resist it to the uttermost of my
power, with the first convenience and opportunity I can
possess.

•' ' I count all acts, made or to be made by heretical
powers, of no force, or to be practised or obeyed by myself,
or any other son of the mother Church of Rome.

'"I do further declare him or her, father or mother,
brother or sister, son or daughter, husband or wife, uncle
or aunt, nephew or niece, kinsman or kinswoman, master
or mistress, and all others, nearest or dearest relations,
friend or acquaintance whatsoever, accursed, that either
do or shall hold, for time to come, any ecclesiastical or
civil, above the authority of the mother Church; or that
do or shall obey, for the time to come, any of her the
mother Church's opposers or enemies, or contrary to the
same, of which I have here sworn unto ; so God, the
Blessed Virgin, St. Peter, St. Paul, and the holy Evan-
gelists, help, &c..'

'^ His highness the viceroy of this nation, is of little or
no power with the old natives ; therefore your Lordship
will expect of me no more than I am able. This nation is
poor in wealth, and not sufficient now at present to
oppose them. It is obsen'ed that ever since his high-

BROWNE. 163

ness's ancestors had this nation in possession, the old
natives have been craving foreign powers, to assist and
rule them. And now both English race and Irish be-
gin to oppose your Lordship's orders, and do lay aside
their national old quarrels, which I fear will, if anything
will, cause a foreigner to invade this nation. I pray
God I may be a false prophet ; yet your good Lordship
must pardon mine opinion, for I write it to your Lord-
ship as a warning."

This bull of excommunication from the Pope was in-
tended not to be a mere brutum fidmen, but to be the
harbinger of more open and determined hostility against
the King and his liege subjects, who dared to resist the
aggressions of the Papal tyranny. About midsummer a
Franciscan friar, named Thady Birne, was apprehended ;
and, having been put into the pillory, was confined in
prison, until the King s order should arrive for his trans-
mission to England. But terrified by the report that he
was to be put to death, he committed suicide on the 24tli
of July in the castle of Dublin; and amongst other papers,
was found in his possession the following letter to O'Neal,
dated at Rome April the 28th, 1538, exciting him to rebel-
lion in the names of the Pope and Cardinals, and under
the signature of the Bishop of Metz.

" My son O'Neal,

" Thou and thy fathers are all along faithful to the
mother Church of Rome. His Holiness Paul, now Pof>e,
and the council of the holy fathers there, have lately found
out a prophecy there remaining, of one St. Laserianus,
an Irish Bishop of Cashel, wherein he saith, that the
mother Church of Rome falleth, when in Ireland the
Catholic faith is overcome. Therefore, for the glory of the
mother Church, the honour of St. Peter, and your own
secureness, suppress heresy and his holiness's enemies ;
for when the Roman faith there perisheth, the see of
Rome falleth also. Therefore the council of Cardinals
have thought fit to encourage your country of Ireland as a

164 BROWNE.

sacred island ; being certified, whilst the mother Church
hath a son of worth as yourself, and those that shall
succour you and join therein, that she will never fall ;
but have more or less a holding in Britain, in spite of
fate.

"Thus having obeyed the order of the most sacred
council, we recommend your princely person to the [care
of the] Holy Trinity, of the Blessed Virgin, of St. Peter,
St. Paul, and all the heavenly host of heaven. — Amen.

" Episcopus Metensis."

This and the like solicitations to rebellion and treason,
in behalf of the Bishop and Church of Rome, were not
lost upon O'Neal, who early in the following year, declared
himself the champion of the Papacy ; or upon others of
the Irish leaders, to whom they appear to have been ad-
dressed, and who, engaging in a confederacy, took the field,
and committed great devastations, till they were defeated
by the foresight and valour of the Lord Deputy and Sir
William Brereton. But, instead of dwelling on these
transactions, our business rather is to relate that, notwith-
standing all opposition both from within and from without,
the reformation of the Church was slowly but progressively
advancing, and thus giving an earnest and opening the
w^ay of further improvements.

In particular, the Archbishop of Dublin at length suc-
ceeded in the accomplishment of his design of removing
the monuments of superstition from his two cathedrals,
and from the rest of the churches in his diocese : and
especially the miraculous staff of St. Patrick, which had
been plundered from the cathedral of Armagh, and pre-
sented to that of the Holy Trinity, in Dublin, in 1180,
and had since been treasured up as one of its most valu-
able reliques, was publicly committed to the flames and
burnt ; and the images in general were displaced, and in
their room were substituted the creed, the Lord's-prayer,
and the ten commandments, decently framed and orna-
mented. About the same time these objects of idolatrous

BROWNE. 165

Vv^orship elsewhere were generally defaced or removed,
after the example which had been set in England. Thus
an image of our blessed Saviour on the cross, in the abbej
of Balljbogan, in the diocese of Meath, which had been
held in great veneration, was publicly destroyed by fire ;
and the same fate befell the equally venerated image of
the Blessed Virgin, in the abbey of the canons regular, at
Tiim, in the same diocese ; and the oblations and trea-
sures, which many superstitious votaries had offered there,
were at the same time taken and carried away.

But in these latter instances, whatever may have been
the Archbishop's good will on the occasion, he appears to
have had no concern in the transaction. He had been
accused, indeed, of such an intention early in the year in
which it occurred ; but had defended himself against the
charge in a letter to the Lord Privy Seal, dated the 20th
of June, 1538 : — " For that I endeavour myself, and also
cause others of my clergy, to preach the Gospel of Christ,
and to set forth the King s causes, there goeth a common
bruit among the Irishmen, that I intend to pluck down
our Lady of Trim, with other places of pilgrimages, as the
Holy Cross, and such like ; which, indeed, 1 never at-
tempted, although my conscience would right well serve
rae to oppress such idols. But undoubted they be the
adversaries of God's word, which have kindled the same,
thinking it will be to my reproach, that 1 pray God
amend them ; fearing, that all those of this country, being
now there, which feign themselves outwardly to be the
maintainers of the Gospel, it is not inwardly conceived in
their hearts."

Archbishop Browne's task was by no means an easy
one, the Lord Deputy was in heart a conservative and a
Romanizer, and reports were in circulation of vaccilation
on the part of the King ; nevertheless he proceeded gene-
rally by legitimate means, occasionally by causing an op-
ponent to be imprisoned. He was diligent in preaching,
and in order to secure the acknowledgment of the Royal

F'2

166 BROWNE.

supremacy, he put forth, under his seal as ordinary, a
form of bidding prayer, under the title of " The Form of
the Beads," to be addressed by all the clergy to the peo-
ple, directing them what to pray for. In this form the
phrase " Church of England and Ireland" is used, and
the phrase not in the plural, " churches," but in the sin-
gular, " church," occurs five times in the course of the
Formulary. In this the Papal supremacy was denounced,
and that of the King asserted. It concluded with the
direction ; " For these and for grace every man say a
Pater noster and an Ave."

To this stretch of authority there was much opposition :
we can easily understand the extreme violence to which
the clergy of the Church of Ireland would be hurried at
the present time by an attempt on the part of their rulers
in the opposite direction, and we must make allowance
for the conduct of the clergy of the established Church
when they were most of them Romanizers, and the cause
of Popery was identified in men's minds with that of con-
servatism. Archbishop Browne, as we have before ob-
served, was not supported by the Lord Deputy : and to
what extent of persecution his zeal might have hurried
him, except for the check he received in this quarter, it is
difficult to say. With reference to a disobedient clergy-
man, his grace wrote to Lord Cromwell the following
rather 2jettish letter :

" It may please your Lordship to be advertised, that in
my last letter, directed unto your Lordship, I signified
unto the same, that for his pervicacity and negligence I
committed one Humfrey, a prebendary of St. Patrick's,
unto ward, till time that I knew further the King's plea-
sure in correcting of such obstinate and sturdy Papists ;
thinking that in so doing I should have been aided and
assisted by my Lord Deputy and the council. Howbeit,
spite of my beard, yea, and to my great rebuke, whiles
that I was at an house of Observants, to swear them, and
also to extinct that name, naming them Conventuals, my

BROWNE. 167

Lord Deputy hath set him at liberty. (So doth his Lord-
ship aid me in my prince's causes.) I think the simplest
holy-water clerk is better esteemed than I am. I beseech
your Lordship in the way of charity, either cause my
authority to take effect, or else let me return home again
unto the cloister. When that I was at the worst, I was
in better case than I am now, what with my Lord De-
puty, the Bishop of Meath, and the pecuniose Prior of
Kilmainham (Ptaw^son). God send remedy, Who ever have
your Lordship in His safe tuition. At Dublin, the "^Oth
of May.

" Your Lordship may give credit unto this bearer, for
he is my chaplain. I have committed now of late into
ward the Bishop of Meath's suffragan, w^hich in his
sermon prayed, first for the Bishop of Rome, then for
the Emperor, and at last for the King's grace, saying : —
' I pray God, he never depart this world, until that he
hath made amends.' What shall a man think of the
Bishop that hath such a suffragan ? Howbeit, I doubt
not but that he shall be discharged ; ask, and nought
believe.

(Signed.) " Georgius Dublin."
(Superscribed.)
" To the Right Honourable and my most singular
good Lord, the Lord Private Seal."

The allusion made in the foregoing letter to Staples,
Bishop of Meath, arose from an unhappy difference which
prevailed between the Archbishop and him, caused by
certain sermons which they had delivered in the preceding
Lent, and in which each was said to have maligned tlie
other, on the evidence of insufficient, perhaps slanderous,
witnesses, of whom Humirey was one. Much crimination
and recrimination followed, and hard words were used on
both sides, little creditable in truth to the Christian pro-
fession, or the dignified station of either. In the end,
articles, drawn up by each party, were sent to the Lord
Privy Seal ; but the dispute seems to have been adjusted

168 BROWNE.

between them by his interposition, without pronouncing
on its merits.

In 1538 he was one of the privy council, who went on a
visitation of four counties, for the purpose of " aboHshing
the Bishop of Rome's usurped authority and extinguish-
ing idolatry;" and his fellow commissioners in a letter to
the Lord Privy Seal, express a hope that '* it may please
his Lordship to give thanks to my Lord of Dublin for his
pains and diligence he hath used in his journey with us,
in setting forth the word of God."

In another letter written after the return of the com-
missioners to Dublin, and signed by the Archbishop as
vveil as his three commissioners, it is reported : — " At
Clonmell was with us two Archbishops and eight Bishops,
in whose presence my Lord of Dublin preached, in ad-
vancing the King's supremacy, and the extinguishment
of the Bishop of Rome. And, his sermon finished, all
the said Bishops, in all the open audience, took the
oath mentioned in the xlcts of Parliament, both touch-
ing the King's succession and supremacy, before me,
the King's Chancellor; and divers others there present
did the like"

In a letter from the Archbishop himself to the Lord
Privy Seal, his Grace complains of the treatment he
received from the conservative Lord Deputy, who had
seized his house and furniture ; in the concluding para-
graph he says : "At such season as your Lordship's plea-
sure shall be to send hither authority ad causas ecdesias-
tlcas, God willing, I intend to travel the country as far as
any English is to be understanded ; and where, as I may
not be understanded, I have provided a suffragan, named
Doctor Xangle, Bishop of Clonfert, who is not only well
learned, but also a right honest man, and undoubtedly
will set forth as well the word of God as our princes
causes, in the Irish tongue, to the discharge, I trust, of
my conscience. Which said Bishop was promoted to the
said benefice, by the King's majesty and you ; and by
commandment of the King s highness, and your good Lord-

BROWNE. 169

ship, bj me consecrated ; although as now he is expulsed,
and a Rome runner, who came in by provision, supported
in the same by one IM'WilUam, a naughty traitorous
person, governor of those parts, to whom the said Doctor
Xangle, my suffragan, showed the King's broad seal, for
justifying of his authority, which the said M'Wilham little
esteemed, but threw it away and vihpended the same.
Notwithstanding that, my Lord Deputy will see no re-
dress, for that his Lordship is so affectioned to the said
M 'William, although his Lordship had the King s highness
letters in the favour of my said suffragan. Nevertheless
his Lordship did a greater enterprise than that, in Obrenes
country. He there deposed a Bishop, which was likewise
promoted by the King's highness ; which Bishop was at
Clonmell at our last journey, and there in presence of the
Lord Chancellor, Lord Treasurer, Master Sub-Treasurer,
and me, declared unto us the truth thereof. And, for
as much as we could perceive, he was a right fatherly
person ; and he, that the Lord Deputy hath now pro-
moted to the same, is a gray fiiar, one of the holy con-
fessors of the late Garrantynes, even as rank a traditor as
ever they were.'"

The dissolution of monasteries had commenced before
Archbishop Browne's time ; Archbishop Alan had been
one of Cardinal Wolsey's instruments in procuring the
dissolution of forty of the lesser monasteries. Subse-
quently other abbeys and religious houses had been sup-
pressed and their property given to other persons, or
vested in the crown. It is not fair to charge the dissolu-
tion of monasteries entirely upon the Reformers. Their
corruption had in many instances become so great, that
the public seemed to demand a diminution of their num-
ber, as well as a reformation in their inmates.

At this time the dissolution of the monasteries was
vigorously prosecuted, and effected to a large extent, but
not without opposition. That the corruptions were many
and great, no one denied, but that the wheat should be
consumed with the tares, many regretted. In 1538 a

170 BROWNE.

report was made of a commission for the suppression of
all abbeys, which called forth a recommendation from the
Lord Deputy and council, that " six houses should stand
and continue, changing their clothing and rule in such
sort and order, as the King's grace should will them :
which are named St. Mary Abbey, adjoining to Dublin, a
house of white monks; Christ's Church, a house of canons,
situate in the midst of the city of Dublin ; the nunnery
of Grace Dieu, in the county of Dublin ; Connal, in the
county of Kildare ; Kenlys and Gerepont, in the county
of Kilkenny. For in those houses commonly, and other
such like, in default of common inns, which are not in
this land, the King's deputy, and all other his grace's
council and officers, also Irishmen, and others resorting
to the King's deputy in their quarters, is and hath been
most commonly lodged at the costs of the said houses.
Also in them young men and children, both gentlemen
children, and other, both of mankind and womankind, be
brought up in virtue, learning, and in the English tongue,
and behaviour, to the great charges of the said houses ;
that is to say, the womankind of the whole Englishry of
this land, for the more part, in the said nunnery, and the
mankind in the other said houses. And in the said house
of St. Mary Abbey hath been the common resort of all
such of reputation, as have repaired hither out of Eng-
land. And in Christ's Church, parliaments, councils, and
the common resort, in term time, for definitions of matters
by judges and learned men, is, for the most part, used.

For which causes, and others moved and

reasoned amongst the council, it was thought, the King's
most gracious pleasure standing therewith, more for the
common weal of this land, and the King's honour and
profit, that the said six houses, changing their habit and
rules, after such sort as shall please the King's majesty,
should stand, than the profits that should to the Kings
grace grow by their suppression."

A petition to the same effect, relative to their own
house, was sent to the Lord Privy Seal by the abbot and

BROWNE. 171

convent of St. Mary, pleading, amongst other things, that
" verily they were but stewards and pun-eyors to other
men's uses, for the King's honour: keeping hospitality,
and many poor men, scholars and orphans."

But no concession appears to have been made to this
recommendation and petition. Accordingly, we find most
of the superiors of the houses just enumerated in the list
of those abbots and priors, who upon assurance of pensions
during their respective lives, as provided by the late Act
of Parliament, began now to suiTender their religious
houses to the King. When a voluntary surrender of a
monastery was refused, compulsory means were enforced
against the recusant, though the entire suppression of
monasteries in Ireland was not effected till the reign of
James I.

In 1539 letters patents under the privy seal were issued
to the Archbishop and others, appointing among other
things, "that they should investigate, inquire, and search
out, where, within the said land of Ireland, there were any
notable images, or reliques, at which the simple people of
the said lord the King were wont superstitiously.to meet
together : and wandering as on pilgrimage, to walk and
stray about them, or otherwise to kiss, lick, or honour
them, contrary to the honour of God ; and that they
should break in pieces, deform, and bear away the same :
and thus with all things pertaining, annexed, and adjoined
thereto, they should utterly abolish them, so that no fool-
eries of this kind might thenceforth for ever be in use
in the said land or dominion of the aforesaid lord the
King."

The commission also directed, with respect to such
monasteries and religious houses, as w^ere willingly sur-
rendered into the hands of the King, and thereupon dis-
solved, that the commissioners should take for the King's
use and possession all goods, moveable things, and chat-
tels, lands, and revenues thereof; and sell and alienate
the same, except gold and silver plate, jewels, principal
ornaments, lead, and bells; and from the proceeds, and

17-2 BROWNE.

also from the revenues of the said monasteries and houses,
if the goods and moveables thereof were insufficient,
should pay all just debts, and all other reasonable charges,
incidental to the said monasteries or religious houses. It
also gave authority to the commissioners, to allow the
chief governors and heads of the said houses such portion
of the things aforesaid, as might be fitting for their rank,
and appear convenient in the commissioners' discretion.
And it directed them to provide for the sufficient and
secure keeping of the jewels and other moveables in their
custody, to the use and behoof of the said lord the
King.

Under the episcopate of Dr. Browne the see of Dublin
suffered considerable damage in its property, and, what
certainly tells against his grace, while he was willing to
sacrifice the property of the see, of which he was only
steward, he sought indemnification for himself. In 1542
the King having made a grant of certain lands, which in
great part belonged to the Archbishop of Dublin, but
which the Archbishop was contented liberally to release to
his majesty, the Lord Deputy and council prayed the King
to remit to him a debt of £280., " in respect of his said
conformity, and that he hath, sithence his repair into this
your realm, sustained great charges in your highness'
service, and came very poor to his said promotion, having
no manner dilapidations of the goods of his predecessor ;
Tvhereby he shall not only be the more able to serve your
majesty, and be well requited for his said conformity, but
also bind him, according to his most bounden duty, to
pray to Almighty God for the long preservation of your
most royal estate ; otherwise we think the man shall not
be able to pay your majesty, and live in any honourable
estate." The King granted the prayer in the Archbishop's
favour : " not doubting but he will the better apply his
charge and office, and provide that there may be some
good preachers to instruct and teach the people in those
parts. Willing, therefore, you, our deputy and council,
t-hat you have a special regard also to this point ; and as

BROWNE. 173

you may provide that they may learn by good and catholic
teaching, and the ministration of justice, to know God's
laws and ours together ; which shall daily more and more
frame and confirm them in honest living and due obedi-
ence, to their own benefits, and the universal good of the
country."

The progress of the Reformation had been but slow in
the reign of Henry VIIL, — more decided measures were
taken upon the accession of Edward VI, but the Romaniz-
ing feeling was strong among both the clergy and laity of
the Irish Church. In 1551 an order was addressed to
the Lord Deputy, Sir Anthony St. Leger, for introducing
the reformed English Book of Common Prayer into all
the Churches in Ireland. The Common Prayer Book had
been ratified by the English convocation and parliament
in 1549. In this order it is said that the King had
" caused the liturgy and prayers of the Church to be trans-
lated" into English, intending by the expression to guard
against the insinuation of the Romanizers that the book
was a new book, or that in attempting to reform there
was any intention fundamentally to change the ancient
Church. The order was as follows : —

" Edward, by the gi'ace of God, &c.

" Whereas our gracious father, King Henry the
Eighth, of happy memory, taking into consideration the
bondage and heavy yoke that his true and faithful sub-
jects sustained under the jurisdiction of the Bishops of
Rome, as also the ignorance the commonalty were in, how-
several fabulous stories and lying wonders misled our
subjects in both our realms of England and Ireland,
grasping thereby the means thereof into their hands, also
dispensing with the sins of our nations by their indulg-
ences and pardons for gain, pui^posely to cherish all ill
vices, as robberies, rebellions, thefts, whoredoms, blas-
phemy, idolatry, &c. : He, our gracious father, King
Henry, of happy memory, hereupon dissolved all prioiies,

VOL. III. Q

1T4 BROWNE.

monasteries, abbeys, and other pretended religious houses,
as being but nurseries for vice and luxury, more than for
sacred learning : therefore, that it might more plainly ap-
pear to the world, that those orders had kept the light of
the Gospel from his people, he thought it most fit and
convenient, for the preservation of their souls and bodies,
that the Holy Scriptures should be translated, printed,
and placed in all Parish Churches within his dominions,
for his faithful subjects to increase their knowledge of God
and of our Saviour Jesus Christ. We therefore, for the
genera] benefit of our well-beloved subjects' under-
standings, whenever assembled and met together in the
said several Parish Churches, either to pray or hear
prayers read, that they may the better join therein, in
unity, hearts, and voice, have caused the Liturgy and
l^rayers, of the Church to be translated into our mother-
tongue of this realm of England, according to the assem-
bly of divines lately met within the same for that purpose.
We therefore will and command, as also authorize you,
Sir Anthony Saint Leger, Knight, our ^dceroy of that our
kingdom of Ireland, to give special notice to all our clergy,
as well Archbishops, Bishops, Deans, Archdeacons, as
others our secular parish priests within that our said king-
dom of Ireland, to perfect, execute, and obey this our royal
will and pleasure accordingly.

" Given at our manor of Greenwich, the. 6th of Febru-
arv, in the fifth year of our reign.

"E. R.

" To our trusty and well-beloved Sir Anthony Saint
Leger, Knight, our chief governor of our kingdom of
Ireland."

The first step taken by the viceroy on receiving this
order, and before he proceeded to notify it by a general
proclamation, was to call together an assembly of the
Archbishops and Bishops, and of the clergy of Ireland, on

BROWNE. 175

tlie 1st of March, 1551 : and to acquaint them with his
majesty's order, as also with the opinioDS of those Bishops
and clergy of England who had acceded to the order. And
he thereupon told them, that " it was his majesty's will
and pleasure, consenting unto their serious considerations
and opinions, then acted and agreed on in England, as to
ecclesiastical matters, that the same be in Ireland so like-
wise celebrated and performed."

To this communication of the Lord Deputy an answer
was returned by the primate. Archbishop Dowdall, who
promptly availed himself of the opportunity, the first
which seems to have occurred, in ^ general meeting of the
Prelates and clergy of the kingdom, since his elevation,
for oppugning the royal authority, and testifying his zeal
for the Pope, and discrediting the proposed improvement
in religious worship. He accordingly expressed himself
in strong terms opposed to the provision caused by the
King to be made, and now set forth by his authority : he
contended against the Liturgy, that it might not be read
or sung in the church : and he accompanied his opposi-
tion with the contemptuous reflection, substituting the
word "mass" for "service," " Then shall every illiterate
fellow read mass."

The Primate's reflection was readily met by the Lord
Deputy, who made a judicious and sufficient reply; briefly
alleging where the charge of illiteracy properly rested, and
propounding one incontrovertible argument in favour of
a form of prayer in the vernacular tongue, as mutually
intelligible both to the minister and to the people. " No,"
said he, " your grace is mistaken ; for we have too many
illiterate priests amongst us already, who neither can pro-
nounce the Latin, nor know what it means, no more than
the common jDeople that hear them ; but when the people
hear the Liturgy in English, they and the priest will then
understand what they pray for."

The Primate seems to have felt the force of the appeal,
for he did not attempt to refute it ; but adopting a course
which is no unusual substitute for argument with those

176 BROWNE.

who are sensible of tlie weakness of their cause, he had
recourse to the language of menace and intimidation, and
bade the viceroy " beware of the clergy's curse." And
indeed, in so doing, he was only following the instruc-
tion and example of his acknowledged lord and mastei',
the Bishop of Rome, in his commission to his subjects
in King Henry the Eighth's reign, and was adopting
the usual practice of the papal authorities on similar
occasions.

The cautionary charge, however, was lost on the vice-
roy. " I fear no strange curse," said he, " so long as I
have the blessing of that Church which I believe to be the
true one."

"Can there be a truer Church," the Archbishop there-
upon demanded, " than the church of St. Peter, the
mother Church of Rome ?"

" I thought," returned the Lord Deputy, " we had all
been of the Church of Christ; for He calls all true
believers in Him His Church, and Himself the head
thereof."

The Archbishop again demanded, "And is not St.
Peter's church the Church of Christ ?"

To which the Lord Deputy calmly replied, " St. Peter
was a member of Christ's Church ; but the church was not
St. Peter's ; neither was St. Peter, but Christ, the head
thereof."

Thus ceased this very remarkable altercation. For the
Primate, indignant, as it should seem, at the counterac-
tion offered to his resistance of the proposed measure, and
to his zeal for the papal church, and the pretended suc-
cessor of St. Peter, thereupon rose up and left the assem-
bly, accompanied by several, perhaps all» of the Bishops
within his jurisdiction who were present, except the
Bishop of Meath, who continued behind, together with
the other clergy who remained.

The viceroy then took the order, and held it forth to
the Archbishop of Dublin, who stood up, and received
it with these words : "This order, good brethren, is from

BROWNE. 177

our gracious King, and from the rest of our brethren,
the fathers and clergy of England, who have consulted
herein, and compared the holy Scriptures with what
they have done ; unto whom I submit, as Jesus did to
Cassar, in all things just and lawful, making no question
why or wherefore, as we own him our true and lawful
King."

Several of the more moderate Bishops and clergy- ad-
hered to Archbishop Browne ; among whom were Staples,
Bishop of Meath ; Lancaster, Bishop of Kildare ; Travers,
Bishop of Leighlin ; and Coyn, Bishop of Limerick. If
there were any other Bishops, their names have not been
recorded.

Divine worship was conducted according to the English
ritual at Christ-church cathedral in Dublin, on Easter-
day, 1551. The Archbishop preached on the occasion,
and defended the Reformation with calmness and judg-
ment. The Romanizing and conservative party were as
strongly supported by Dowdall, Archbishop of Armagh, as
the reforming Party was by Archbishop Browne. A con-
test for precedence had for some centuries been agitated
between the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, each
claiming it in right of his see : but latterly it had been
enjoyed with little or no opposition by the Archbishop of
Armagh, who was distinguished by the title of Primate of
all Ireland, from the Archbishop of Dublin, who styled
himself only Primate of Ireland, after the manner used
for distinguishing in the like respect the x\rchbishops of
Canterbury and York in England. But in consequence
of the parts respectively taken by the two iVrchbishops on
the recent occasion ; in testimony of disapprobation of the
obstinate opposition made by Archbishop Dowdall to the
Retbrmation, and specially to the introduction of the
Liturgy ; and in acknowledgment of the zeal, resolution,
and extraordinary services of Archbishop Browne ; by an
act of the 20th of October, 1551, the King and council
of England deprived the former of the primacy of all
Q'2

178 BROWNE.

Ireland, and by letters patent conferred the title on tlie
latter and his successors, and annexed it to the see of
Dublin.

But Browne did not long enjoy his precedence. With
the accession of Queen Mary the Romanizers regained
their authority in the Church of Ireland as well as in
England, and at the latter end of the year 1554 Browne
was illegally, uncanonically, and by an act of tyranny
deprived of his see. Archbishop Dowdall then recovered
the title of Primate, which has ever since been attached to
his see. The exact time of Archbishop Browne's death is
not recorded, we are merely informed that it occurred
about the year 1556. — Chiefly from Bisliop Mant's History
of the Church of Ireland. Life and Sermon re-jmnted in
the Phoenix. Strypes Cranmer. Ware. Wood.

BKOWNE, PETER.

Petek Browne, a native of Ireland, was at first provost
of Trinity College in Dublin, and afterwards Bishop of
Cork. He wrote, 1. A Refutation of Toland's Christianity
not Mysterious. This was the foundation of his prefer-
ment ; which occasioned him to say to Toland himself,
that he was indebted to him for his mitre. 2. The Pro-
gress, Extent, and Limits, of the Human Understanding,
1728, 8vo. This was meant as a supplemental work, dis-
playing more at large the principles on which he had
confuted Toland. 3. Sermons levelled principally against
the Socinians, written in a manly and easy style, and
much admired. He published also, 4. A little volume in
12mo, against the Custom of Drinking to the Memory of
the Dead. It was a fashion among the whigs of his time
to drink to the glorious and immortal memory of king
William III., which greatly disgusted our bishop, and is
supposed to have given rise to the piece in question. His
notion was. that drinking to the dead is tantamount to

BROWNE. 179

praying for the dead, and not, as is really meant, an
ai)probation of certain conduct or principles. The only
effect, however, was that the whigs added to their toast,
"in spite of the Bishop of Cork." He died in 1735.
— Gen. Biog. Diet.

BEOWNE, THOMAS.

Thomas Browne was born in the county of Middlesex,
in 1604. In 16"20 he was elected student of Christ-
church, and took his master's degree in 1627. In 1636
he served the office of proctor, and the year after was
made domestic chaplain to Archbishop Laud, and bachelor
of divinity. Soon after he became rector of St. Mary
Alderraary, London, canon of Windsor in 1639, and
rector of Oddington, in Oxfordshire. When the Rebellion
broke out the rebels and dissenters ejected him from his
living. He was one among many thousand sufferers who
have met with little sympathy, although for their Church
and their King they suffered insult to their persons, impri-
sonment, and spoiling of goods. They who suffer for ortho-
doxy and loyalty, must always look for their reward
beyond the grave In an evil and adulterous generation
the rebel is admired if successful, and hanged, if in
an attempt to succeed he endangers life and property.
Browne, when driven from his Church and his home,
joined Charles the Martyr at Oxford. He was chaplain to
the King, and when prevented by a tyrannical exercise of
power on the part of the rebels from discharging his
duties to his parishioners, he hoped at least to be of some
service to his royal master. In 1642 he was created D.D.
having then only the profits of Oddington to maintain
him. He appears aftei-wards to have been stripped even
of this, and went to the continent, where he was for some
time chaplain to Mary, Princess of Orange. After the
Restoration, he was admitted again to his former prefer-
ments, but does not appear to have had any other reward

180 BROWNRIG.

for his losses and sufferings. He died at Windsor, in
1673, and was buried on the outside of St. Georges
chapel, where Dr. Isaac Vossius, his executor, erected
a monument to his memory, with an inscription celebrat-
ing his learning, eloquence, critical talents, and knowledge
of antiquities. Besides a sermon preached before the uni-
versity in 1633, he published A Key to the Kings Cabinet;
or Animadversions upon the three printed Speeches of
Mr. L'Isle, Mr. Tate, and Mr. Browne, members of the
House of Commons, spoken at a Common Hall in London,
July, 1645, detecting the Malice and Falsehood of their
Blasphemous Observations upon the King and Queen's
Letters, Oxford, 1645, 4to. His next publication was a
treatise in defence of Grotius against an epistle of Salma-
sius, De Posthumo Grotii ; this he printed at the Hague,
1646, 8vo, under the name of Simplicius Virinus, and it
was not known to be his until after his death, when the
discovery was made by Vossius. He wrote also, Disser-
tatio de Therapeutis Philonis adversus Henricum Vale-
si um, Lond. 1687, 8vo, at the end of Colomesius' edition
of St. Clement's epistles ; and he translated part of Cam-
den's xinnals of Queen Elizabeth, under the title, Tomus
alter et idem ; or the History of the Life arid Reign of
that famous Princess Elizabeth, &c. Lond. 1629, 4to. In
the Republic of Letters, vol. vi. 1730, we find published
for the first time, a Concio ad Clerum, delivered for his
divinity bachelor's degree, in 1637 ; the subject, " the
revenues of the clergy," which even at that period were
threatened. — Wood's Athen. Oxon. Rejmblic of Letters.

BROWNRIG, OR BROUNRIG, RALPH.

Ralph Brownrig was the son of a merchant at Ipswich,
and born 159-2. At fourteen years of age he was sent to
Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, of which he successively be-
came scholar and fellow. He was appointed prevaricator

BROWNRIG. 181

when James I. visited the university. He was first col-
lated by Dr. Felton, Bishop of Ely, to the rectory of Bar-
ley, in Herefordshire, and in 16 '21 to a prebend in the
church of Ely. He took the degree of doctor in divinity
at Oxford in 16'28 ; and the following year was collated to
a prebend in the church of Lichfield, which he quitted on
being made Archdeacon of Coventry in 1631. He was
likewise master of Catharine Hall, Cambridge ; and in the
years 1637, 1638, 1643, and 16-14, discharged the office
of vice-chancellor. Although a good man he was inclined
as the head of a house to regard with too much deference
the spirit of the age, and to take part against the sound
Church or Catholic party. In Barwick's Life it is said of
him that he " sent for a pupil of Mr. Barwick's, though
not of his own college, who had hitherto constantly fre-
quented the service of the Church of England, and spoke
to him in this manner :

'I wonder that your tutor, no ill man in other respects,
does not yet abstain from that form of worship, which he
must needs know will be disagreeable to our excellent
parliament, and not very acceptable to God Himself,' (for
Mr. Barwick, according to the custom of his college, and
of the primitive Church, used to worship God by bowing
towards the east.) ' But be you careful, says he, to steer
your course clear of the dangerous rock of every error,
whether it savour of the impiety of Arminianism, or of the
superstition of Popery.

*' Upon this advice the unhappy young man immedi-
ately began to warp towards the Puritans, and was after-
wards promoted to be chaplain, in his new way of worship,
to the Earl of Warwick, the lord high admiral of the
rebels' fleet; but the person himself who gave him this ill
advice was afterwards very ill treated, even by those in
whose favour he had done it. Mr. Barvvick was something
concerned at these reproaches from his friends, as little as
he was ever moved with those of his enemies : indeed, it
was his constant custom to return with all the good offices
in his power whatever ill was spoken against him by any

18-2 BROWNRIG.

one." Brownrig also as vice-chancellor is supposed to have
prevented active measures being adopted in the senate
house against the solemn league and covenant. In 1641
he was presented to a prebend in the church of Durham,
bv Dr. Moreton, bishop of that see; and the same year was
nominated to succeed Dr. Hall, translated to the bishopric
of Norwich, in the see of Exeter.

It was probably on account of his liberalism, his hos-
tility to the high Church movement, and his relationship
to the notorious Pym, that the King, when he determined,
during his visit to Scotland, to fill up the vacant sees,
nominated Dr. Brownrig to Exeter. It was a condescen-
sion to the malcontents. But the experiment entirely failed.
The news of his promotion only stin'ed up the spirit of
the enemies of the Church to a more open declaration of
their purpose. They were, or pretended to be, greatly
surprised that the King should presume to make new
Bishops, when they were resolved to take away the old ;
and therefore voted the appointment of a committee to
confer with the house of lords, in order to procure an
insolent address to King Charles, praying him "to make
no new Bishops till the controversy should be ended about
the government of the Church." But as this motion was
carried with some difficulty, they thought it prudent to
proceed no further, till they had a more clear prospect of
success. It was not long afterwards, however, when, on
the Kings return from Scotland, the commons, aided by
a turbulent faction out of doors, committed twelve of the
Bishops to the tower ; and in the beginning of the follow-
ing year the bill was passed both houses for taking away
their votes in parliament, to which the King most reluct-
antly granted his consent.

The Bishop of Exeter had never taken his seat in the
house of lords, and indeed his consecration seems not to
have taken place till after these violent proceedings were
past.

Deserted by his kinsman Pym and the Presbyterians ;
hated indeed the more for his former liberalism, he was

BROWNRIG. 183

soon after deprived of his see; and for a loyal sermon
preached in 1645, he lost also the mastership of his
college. After this he resided principally at the house of
Thomas Rich, of Sunning, Esq.

In the beginning of the outrages which the Bishops had
to sustain, he was once assaulted, and narrowly escaped
stoning from the rabble ; but he endured this and all his
wrongs, as those who knew him bore witness, without any
loss of equanimity, " more concerned for the unhappy
perpetrators of the sacrilege than for his own loss." He
was a person of incomparable clearness of mind, candour,
sweetness, solid reasonings skill in argument, and elo-
quence ; and for these eminent qualities his conversation
was often sought by other distinguished churchmen of
that time. While he resided at Sunning, Dr. Seth Ward,
who afterwards succeeded him at Exeter, and was his
chaplain, used to go from Oxford to visit him. Here on
one occasion a remarkable interview ensued. The Bishop
sent for him, and told him the precentorship of Exeter
cathedral was become vacant, to which it was his purpose
to present him. Cromwell was then in the height of his
power, and this office, like all other cathedral preferments-,
was sequestered. But the good man, having a firm faith
in the providence of God, and believing that no tyranny
over the Church can be permanent, told his chaplain that
" he was confident the King would be restored ; and you
may live," said he, " to see that happy day ; and then,
though I believe I shall not see it, this which now seems
a gift, and yet is no gift, may be of some advantage to
you." With the same spirit with which it was offered
was it accepted ; so that Dr. Ward insisted on paying the
Bishop's secretary the full fees for his instrument of
collation, though this happened in the darkest night of
despair, when there seemed no probability, and scarcely
any possibility, that the sun of hope would ever shine
again. Brownrig died about six months before the Re
storation, December Tth, 1659.

184 BROWNRIG.

Cromwell, when his power was established, sometimes
sent for some of the most eminent of the clergy of the
Church of England, and pretended to commiserate their
sufferings and intend them favour. With this view he
sought an interview with the learned and pious Arch-
bishop Usher, to whom he made a promise which he
shortly after broke, to the great discontent of that vir-
tuous and single-minded man. He sent also for
Bishop Brownrig, and desired his counsel. Brownrig,
knowing his duplicity, looked calmly at the arch-rebel,
and said, " You need not my counsel, if you will follow
your Saviour's, — Restoee to C^sar the things that
ARE Cesar's, and to God the things that are God's'
With this uncompromising answer the conference
closed.

Notwithstanding his excellence in such various ways,
frequent fault was found with him for a want of zeal in
the cause of the Church. When an attempt was made to
continue the episcopal succession, the number of Bishops
having been reduced to ten, Bishop Brownrig's luke-
warmness, if not his hostility to the measure, was com-
plained of.

A year before he died he was, indeed, chosen preacher
at the Temple in London. A violent fit of the stone,
attended with dropsy and the infirmities of age, put an
end to his life in 1659.

He was once married, but never had a child. Dr.
Gauden, who had known him above thirty years, declares
that he never heard of any thing said or done by him,
which a wise and good man would have wished unsaid or
undone. Forty of his sermons, being such as had been
perused and approved of by Dr. Gauden, were published
at London in 166-2, folio, by William Martyn, M.A.
preacher at the Rolls. These were re-printed, with the
addition of twenty-five more, in 1674, fol. in three vols. —
Life and Funeral Sermon by Dr. Gauden. BarwicWs Life.
Fuller s Worthies.

BRUNO. 185

BRUNO.

Bruno, the founder of the order of Carthusians, was
born at Cologne about the year 1030. He was educated
first among the clergy of St. Cunibert's church, in his
native city, and afterwards at Rheims, where he attracted
so much notice by his learning and piety, that on a
vacancy occurring, he was promoted to the office of public
professor of Divinity, and canon in the church there, to
which dignity then belonged the direction of the studies
in all the great schools of the diocese. In this office,
which he filled with great reputation, and in which he
had for his pupils some who afterwards distinguished
themselves, particularly Odo, who afterwards became Pope
under the name of Urban II. Here he remained until 1077,
when the tyrannical conduct of Manasses, Archbishop of
Rheims, who, by open simony, had got possession of that
church, induced him to join with two others in accusing
that Prelate in a council held by the Pope's legate at
Autun in 1077. Manasses refusing to appear at the coun-
cil, was suspended from his functions by the legate, but
caused the houses of his accusers to be broken open and
plundered and sold their prebends. Bruno and his com-
panions took refuge in the castle of the count of Rouci,
and remained there till August 1078.

During this retreat his resolution was confirmed of
retiring from the world, and although the Church of
Rheims, on the condemnation of Manasses for simony,
were ready to elect him Archbishop, he refused to accept
the see, and resigning his benefice quitted his friends and
renounced whatever held him in the world. He was for
some time unsettled as to a place of residence. He went
to Cologne, his native place, and then returned to Rheims,
where he persuaded six friends to accompany him to Saisse
Fontaine, in the diocese of Langres. After searching for
some time to discover a proper place for retirement, they
an-ived at Grenoble in 1084, and requested the Bishop to

VOL. III. R

186 BRUNO.

allot them some place where they might serve God remote
from worldly affairs. The Bishop having assigned them
the desert of Chartreuse, and promised them his assistance,
Bruno and his companions built an oratory there, and
small cells, at a little distance one from the other, in
which they passed the six days of the week, but assembled
together on Sundays. Their austerities were rigid, gene-
rally following those of St. Benedict ; and, among other
iTjles, pei*petual silence was enjoined, that their whole
conversation might be with God. They made their wants
known by signs. At parting on the Sunday each took
^vith him to his cell one loaf and one kind of pulse for his
subsistence during the rest of the week. Such was the
origin of the religious order of the Carthusians ; when the
number of the monks increased it became necessary for
Bruno to form a system and to establish rules. His
monks were to wear a hair cloth next their body, a white
cassock, and over it a black cloak : they were never to eat
flesh ; to fast every Friday on bread and water ; to eat
alone in their chambers, except upon certain festivals;
and to observe an almost perpetual silence : none were
allowed to go out of the monastery, except the prior and
procurator, and they only about the business of the house.

They were not to go out of their cells, except to church,
\^ithout leave of their superior. They were not to speak to
any person, even their own brother, without leave. They
might not keep any part of their portion of meat or drink
till the next day, except herbs or fruit. Their bed was of
straw, covered with a felt or coarse cloth ; their clothing,
two hair cloths, two cowls, two pair of hose, a cloak, &c.
all coarse. Every monk had two needles, some thread,
scissors, a comb, a razor, a hone, an ink-horn, pens, chalk,
two pumice-stones ; likewise two pots, two porringers, a
bason, two spoons, a knife, a drinking cup, a water pot, a
salt, a dish, a towel ; and, for fire, tinder, flint, v^ood, and
an axe.

In the refectory, they were to keep their eyes on the

, BRUNO. 187

meat, their hands on the table, their attention on the
reader, and their heart fixed on God. When allowed to
discourse, they were to do it modestly, not to whisper, nor
talk aloud, nor to be contentious. They confessed to the
prior every Saturday. Women were not allowed to come
into their churches, that the monks might not see any
thing which might provoke them to lewdness.

In the year 1170, Pope Alexander III. took this order
under the protection of the holy see. In 1391, Boniface
IX. exempted them from the jurisdiction of the Bishops.
In 1420, Martin V. exempted them from papng the
tenths of the lands belonging to them ; and Julius II. in
1508, ordered, that all the houses of the order, in what-
ever part of the world they were situated, should obey the
prior of the grand Chartreuse, and the general chapter of
the order.

The convents of this order were generally very beautiful
and magnificent. That of Naples, though but small, sur-
passed all the rest in ornaments and riches. Nothing
was to be seen in the church and house but marble and
jasper. The apartments of the prior were rather those of a
prince, than a poor monk. There were innumerable statues,
bass-reliefs, paintings, &c , together with \erj fine gardens:
all which, joined with the holy and exemplary life of the
good religious, drew the curiosity of all strangers who
visited Naples.

The Carthusians settled in England about the year
1180. They had several monasteries here, particularly at
Witham in Somersetshire, Hinton in the same county,
Beauval in Nottinghamshire, Kingston upon Hull, Mount-
grace in Yorkshire, Eppewort in Lincolnshire, Shene in
Surrey, and one near Coventry. In London, they had a
famous monastery, since called from the Carthusians, who
were settled there, the Charter-house.

After BiTino had governed this infant society for six
years, he was invited to Rome by Pope Urban II., who
had, as was observed above, been his scholar at Rheims,
and now received him with every mark of respect and

188 BRUYS.

confidence, and pressed him to accept the archbishopric of
Reggio. This, however, he declined ; and the Pope con-
sented that he should withdraw into some wilderness on
the mountains of Calabria. Bruno found a convenient
solitude in the diocese of Squillaci, where he settled in
] 090, with some new disciples, until his death, Oct. 6,
1101. There are only two letters of his remaining, one to
Raoul le Verd, and the other to his monks, which are
printed in a folio volume, entitled S. Brunonis Opera et
Vita, 1524; but the other contents of the volume belong
to another St. Bruno, first a monk of Solaria, in the dio-
cese of Ast, and hence called Astiensis. He distinguished
himself at the council of Rome in 1079, against Berenger,
and was consecrated Bishop of Segni, by Gregory VIL
He died in 1125. — JDupin. Butler. Broughton. Dugdale.

BRUYS, PETEE.

Peter Bruys, founder of the sect of Petrobrussians, flour-
ished in the beginning of the twelfth centuiy. That he was
a presbyter appears from Abelard, Introduct. Theol. 1066,
"presbyter in provincia." As Abelard there says of him,
" Peter de Bruys continued his exertions for the space of
twenty years," referring to him as one already dead ; and
this book must certainly have been published before the
year 1121 when it was condemned in the council of Sois-
sons : we are thus enabled to reckon with accuracy the
time of his first appearance. He laboured in the regions
of the Pyrenees, in Provence, Languedoc, and Gascony,
and his energetic discourses penetrated the hearts of many
of the susceptible ; but it was not a pure and gentle enthu-
siasm which was excited by his preaching, neither were
his proceedings calculated to excite such a feeling. He
attacked not only the abuses of the Church, but the funda-
mentals of religion, and stirred up the people to acts of
violence and rebellion. The result was that the followers
of Peter de Bruys proceeded to pull down churches aud

BRUYS. 18U

altars ; and assembling on Good Friday brought together
all the crucifixes they could collect ; then making a great
fire of the wood, cooked fish in open defiance of the
authority of the Church, and invited all to the feast. They
went about scourging the priests and compelling the
monks to marry. "And what other result," asks Neander,
* ' could have been anticipated from the spirit of unbridled
liberty pervading so rude an age, when we see at the
kindred and more advanced age of the reformation, all the
caution of the reformers was insuflicient to prevent men
from confounding earthly licentiousness with Christian
freedom, and to restrain the wdld bursts of human passion."
He consistently rejected infant baptism, no express
command existing in Scripture to baptize infants, because
he was an infidel as to the doctrine of baptismal regenera-
tion. As God will accept sincere worship every where, he
drew the conclusion that churches are unnecessary and
ought to be pulled down. As God is not conciliated by
musical melodies, he deduced the exaggerated inference
that "God is only mocked by Church chanting." He
maintained that " the cross as the memorial of the suffer-
ings and martyrdom of Christ, ought rather to be despised
and banished, in revenge for his death, than to be honou red
of men." He entirely rejected the Sacrament of the Lord s
Supper, again acting consistently as he did not acknow-
ledge the inward part or thing signified, that is, " the
Body and Blood of Christ, which are verily and indeed
taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper.'
He said that Christ had once, and once for all, before His
sufferings, produced His Body in the bread, and distributed
it among His disciples, therefore the celebration was not to
be repeated.

After having preached these and other heresies, and
excited sedition among the people in the south of France,
a re- action took place, and Peter de Bruys was seized by
an infuriated mob, and conducted to the scaffold in the
town of St. Giles in Languedoc. — See the Life of Bernard.
Neander's Life of Bernard. Moreri. Mosheim.
r2

190 BUCEE.

BUCEE, MAKTIN.

Martin Bucer. This eminent German Reformer was
born in 1491, in Schelestade, a town of Alsace. He took
the religious habit in the order of St. Dominic, and
studied logic and philosophy at Heidelberg. He perused
with avidity the writings of Erasmus, which first unsettled
his mind, and afterwards those of Luther, until he be-
came persuaded that the Church needed a reformation.
Having given utterance to his opinions, he was chosen by
Frederick, Elector Palatine, to be his chaplain, and in
1521 he had some conferences with Luther at Heidleberg,
where he professed his adherence to the Lutheran doctrine
of Justification, and was the avowed disciple of the great
reformer. Like too many of his brother reformers, he not
only advocated the cause of a married clergy, which was
right, but although bound by vows not himself to marry,
he broke his vovvs and persuaded a nun to do the same.
This of course injured the cause, since the Papists made
the opposition to the celibacy of the clergy on the part of
the reformers., appear to be the result of any thing but
principle. By his first wife he had thirteen children.
His second wife was a wddow, and on her death he married
a third time. What became of his children is not known.

It is well known that a separation took place between
the German and the Swiss reformers, on the doctrine of
the Eucharist. Luther and the Protestants maintained,
according to Mosheim, that the Body and Blood of our
Lord were really, though in a manner beyond human
comprehension, present in the Eucharist, and were ex-
hibited together with the bread and wine. Zuinglius and
the reformed, as they were called, looked upon the bread
and wine in no other light than as mere signs of the
absent Body and Blood of Christ. Zuinglius was sup-
ported by CEcolampadius of Basil. The opposition of
Luther to these misbelievers was as vehement as his
opposition generally was to those whose private judgment
did not accord with his own. Martin Bucer sided in this

BUCER. 191

controversy with the ZuingUans, and became with Capito
a zealous defender of the figurative sense, by which the
Holy Eucharist ceases to be a Sacrament. The opinion
of Bucer was of some importance in the controversy, not
only because he w^as a man of competent learning and
commanding eloquence, but because he was now at the
head of the reformation in Strasburg. In 1528 he w^as
appointed public preacher in the church of Strasburg, and
was nominated to read divinity in the schools ; and here,
with Capito and others, he succeeded in prevailing upon
the senate by a general vote to cast out Popery. The
confession of Augsburg, digested by Melancthon, was
presented to the Emperor in 1530. Bucer and his asso-
ciates at Strasburg offered to subscribe it, excepting only
the article on the Lord's Supper, they being defenders of
the figurative sense, and the Protestants resolutely main-
taining the doctrine of the Real Presence. The reformers
of Strasburg were not admitted on these terms, and
consequently drew up their own particular confession.
The author of this confession was Bucer. It does not
appear that Bucer had concerted any thing with Zuinglius ;
the latter, with the Swiss, spoke plainly and openly :
Bucer, more intent upon keeping together the reforming
party than upon defining doctrine used indefinite and am-
biguous expressions. In the article on the Lord s Supper,
though unwilling to make use of the same terms as the
Lutherans, to explain the Real Presence, yet he affects to
say nothing that might be expressly contrary to it, and
expresses himself in words ambiguous enough to bear that
sense. Thus he speaks, or makes those of Strasburg and
the others speak : " When Christians repeat the Supper
which Jesus Christ made before His death, in that manner
He instituted it. He gives to them, by the Sacrament,
His true Body and Blood, to be the food and drink of
souls." Such was the assertion of a reformer taking the
lowest view of the Sacraments at the era of the Refonna-
tion. It is no compliment to him to insinuate that he

192 BUCER.

said more than he meant, and that he intended to be
understood in a non-natural sense.

In the year preceding, Bucer had been present at
the conference of Marpurg, held between Luther and
Zuinglius, and other doctors of both parties, and had
endeavoured to reconcile difference^. At that time his
idea of effecting a hollow pacification by equivocal ex-
plications, had not been started. The true presence
of the Body and Blood was plainly maintained on one
side, and denied on the other. On both sides it was
understood that a presence in figure and a presence by
faith was not a true presence of Jesus Christ, but a
moral presence, a presence improperly so called and in
metaphor. This meeting only covered the flame of discord,
instead of extinguishing it, and although the parties
separated to all appearance agreeing in all articles except
the Eucharist, it was soon apparent that there really
existed other points of difference. In the confession of
Strasburg, drawn up afterwards by Bucer, there is a wide
difference between his view of justification and that of
Luther. He defines justification to be that by which, " of
unjust we become just, and of wicked good and upright,"
without giving us any other idea of it. He adds, that it is
gratuitous, and attributes it to faith : but to faith joined
with charity, and fruitful in good works. Thus he says,
with the Confession of Augsburg, " that charity is the
fulfilling of the whole law, conformably to the doctrine of
St. Paul:" yet explains more strongly than Melancthon
had done, how necessarily the law ought to be fulfilled,
asserting " that no one can be completely saved, if he be
not so guided by the spirit of Jesus Christ as not to fail
in any of those good works, for the practising of which
God has created us ; and that it is so necessary the law
should be fulfilled, that heaven and earth shall sooner pass
away than an abatement be made in the least tittle of the
law, or in one single iota."

A defensive league was formed by the Emperor with

BUCER: 193

the Roman Catholic states, after the passing of the
vigorous decree of the diet of Augsburg against the Pro-
testants. The Protestants perceived the importance of
union among themselves, but the decision regarding the
Lord's Supper was an obstacle to this. The Landgrave
hesitated not to make a treaty with the reformers of Basil,
Zurich, and Strasburg, but Luther would not hear of
compromise, and the Elector, John Fredeiick, persisted in
the resolution of making no league with them. Bucer was
employed by the Landgrave to endeavour to reconcile
differences ; and Bucer was a fit man to do so, being less
sincere than Luther in his desire to establish a dogma,
and being very earnest to sacrifice much in order to form
a confederacy against the Papisis. Bucer found that he
had a very difficult office. The negociation was inter-
rupted by the war between the Roman Catholic and Pro-
testant Cantons in Switzerland, and at the peace of
Nuremberg both Luther and Melancthon declared against
mutual toleration, on the ground that it would be injurious
to the truth. Bucer, not obtaining toleration from the
Protestants, proceeded on the plan of adopting some
equivocal confession, by means of which those who differed
in thought might appear to agree in words ; and he
asserted all along that the dispute between the Lutherans
and Zuinglians was a mere dispute in words. In seeking
to please both parties, he, as is usually the case, satisfied
neither. Luther said of those who denied the Real
Presence in the Eucharist, " they made a devilish game
with the words of our Lord." " The presence which Bucer
admits," says Melancthon, " is but a presence in word,
and a presence of virtue. But it is the presence of the
Body and Blood, and not that of their virtue, which we
require. If this body of Jesus Christ be nowhere else but
in heaven, and is not with the bread, nor in the bread, —
if, finally, it is not to be found in the Eucharist but by
the contemplation of faith, it is nothing but an imaginary
presence."

(Ecolampadius was as much offended on the other side;

194 BUCER.

he openly denied any presence of Christ in the Eucharist,
but such as Socinians or modern Puritans would admit.
After plainly declaring his want of faith in this respect,
he declares to Bucer : " This is all, my dear Bucer, we
can grant to the Lutherans. Obscurity is dangerous to
our churches. Act after such a manner, my dear brother,
as not to deceive our hopes." Calvin on one occasion,
wishing to express a reprehensible obscurity in an article
of faith, said, " There is nothing so embarrassed, so
ambiguous, so intricate in Bucer himself." Nothing
daunted, however, and having always in view the union of
all anti-Romanists, Bucer and Capito went from Strasburg
to Basil in 1536, and solicited the Swiss to make another
confession of faith, " which might be so framed as to
assist the agreement they had considerable hopes of effect-
ing ;" that is, it was proper to select such terms as the
Lutherans, ardent defenders of the Real Presence, might
take in good part. With this view, a new confession of
faith was drawn up, which is the second of Basil ; the
expressions we have related in the first, which specified,
too precisely, that Jesus Christ was not present, except in
Heaven, and that nothing but a sacramental presence,
and by remembrance only, was to be acknowledged in the
Sacrament, are here retrenched. In reality, the Swiss
appeared strongly intent on asserting, as they had done in
the first Basil confession, " that the Body of Jesus Christ
is not contained in the bread." Had they used these
terms without some modification, the Lutherans would
easily have perceived their object was directly to oppose
the Real Presence ; but Bucer had expedients for every
thing. By his insinuations, those of Basil were deter-
mined to say, " That the Body and Blood are not
naturally united to the bread and wine ; but that the
bread and wine are symbols, by which Jesus Christ Him-
self gave us a true communication of His Body and Blood,
not to serve as a perishable nourishment to the stomach,
but to be a food of life eternal."

Although Bucer partially succeeded at Basil in his

BUCER. 195

object of obtaining a verbal agreement between parties
directly opposed in real opinion, the reformers of Zurich
refused to make any compromise with him. But at length
he succeeded in pacifying Luther, till that time implacable.
He made Luther believe that the Sacramentarians had
truly come over to the doctrine of the Augsburg Confes-
sion and Apology. Melancthon, with whom Bucer was
negociating, acquainted him that he found Luther more
tractable, and that he began to speak more amicably of
him and his companions. At last the assembly of Wit-
temberg, in Saxony, was held, at which the deputies of the
GeiTnan churches, on both sides, were present. Luther
at first spoke in a lofty tone. He would have Bucer and
his companions declare that they retracted, and entirely
rejected all they said to him of the thing itself, as being
not so much the subject of discussion as the manner. But
at length, after much discussion, in which Bucer dis-
played all his pliancy, Luther took those articles, which
this minister and his companions granted him, for a
retractation.

1. "That, according to the words of St. Irenaeus, the
Eucharist consists of two things — the one terrestial, and
the other celestial ; and, by consequence, the Body and
Blood of Jesus Christ are truly and substantially present,
given, and received with the bread and wine."

2. " That, although they had rejected Transubstan-
tiation, and did not believe that the Body of Jesus Christ
was contained locally in the bread, or had with the bread
any union of long continuance out of the use of the
Sacrament, it ought, however, to be acknowledged that
the bread was the Body of Jesus Christ, by a sacramental
union : that is, that the bread being present, the Body
of Jesus Christ was at the same time present, and truly
given."

3. They add, however, " That out of the use of the
Sacrament, whilst it is kept in the ciborium, or shewn
in processions, they believe it is not the Body of Jesus
Christ."

196 BUCER.

4. They concluded by saying " That this institution of
the Sacrament has its force in the church, and depends
not on the worthiness or unworthiness of the minister, nor
of him who receives. "

5. " That as for the unworthy, who, according to St.
Paul, truly eat the Sacrament, the Body and Blood of
Jesus Christ are truly presented to them, and they truly
EECEivE THEM, when the words of Christ's institution are
observed. "

6. "That, however, they take it to their judgment,"
as says the same St. Paul, "because they abuse the
Sacrament, by taking it without repentance, and without

FAITH."

Luther, it seems, had nothing more to desire, and
Bucer had reserved for himself a way of escape. He has
published several works in which he acquaints his friends
in what sense he understood each word of the agreement,
and fully justifies Calvin in his assertion that " Melanc-
thon and Bucer composed on trans ubstantiation, equivocal
and deceitful forms of faith, in order to satisfy, if possible,
their adversaries in conceding nothing to them." Cahin
was the first to condemn these affected obscurities and
shameful dissimulations : " With reason," says he, " you
blame the obscurities of Bucer." "It must be spoken
freely," says he in another place, "it is not lawful to
embarrass that with obscure and equivocal words which
requires light ; those who would hold a medium, forsake
the defence of truth."

Both sides for a season seem to have claimed Bucer,
but at the assembly of Smalkald, in 1537, Bucer declared
himself so explicitly on the Real Presence, "that he
satisfied (says Melancthon, w^ho mentions it with joy)
even those of our people who were the most difficult to
be pleased." Consequently, he satis^ed Luther; and here,
again, Melancthon is delighted that the sentiments of
Luther are followed, whilst he himself abandons them ;
that is, he was delighted to see all the Protestants of
Germany re-united. Bucer had given his assent; the

BUCER. 197

town of Strasburg, with their Doctor, declared for the
Confession of Augsburg ; and peace was in appearance
restored between the Protestants and the Reformed.

The Landgrave of Hesse had found Bucer so skilful a
negociator that, in 1539, this distinguished leader of the
Reformation employed him in a delicate and disgraceful
transaction, which has been severely noticed, and with
justice, by the enemies of the reformation movement. The
Landgrave, supposing that as cehbacy was no longer im-
posed upon the clergy, polygamy might be allowed to the
laity, desired permission to have a concubine, under the
title of a lawful wife, although his real wife was still linng.
The following were the instructions which he delivered to
Bucer : —

" What Doctor Martin Bucer is to treat of with Doctor
Maitin Luther and Philip Melaucthon, and after, if it
seems good to them, with the Elector of Saxony.

I. " Let him announce to them, in my name, greeting
and kindness, and say that if it be well with them hitherto
in soul and body, I would gladly hear of it. Then let
him begin to lay before them, that since the time our
Lord God has visited me with sickness, I have taken
thought of many things, and chiefly of this, that for some
time since I have wedded a wife, 1 have lain in fornica-
tion and adultery.

" Now both they themselves, and others my advisers, in
their sennons, have often exhorted me to draw nigh to the
Sacrament : but I, finding in myself the aforesaid life,
have been unable for some years with any good conscience
to approach the Sacrament : for since I ivill not leave this
manner of life, with what good conscience could I draw
near to the table of the Lord ? And by this I knew I
could not but come into judgment of the Lord, and not to
Christian confession. — Farther, I have read in more than
one place of Paul's, how that neither fornicator nor
adulterer shall possess the kingdom of God. Now, whereas
I find in myself that with my present wife I am unable to

VOL. III. s

198 BUCER.

abstain from fornication, lasciviousness, and adultery :
unless I do cease from such a life, and turn me to amend-
ment, I have no surer expectation than to be disinherited
of the kingdom of God, and eternally damned. But the
causes for which I cannot abstain from fornication, adul-
tery, and the like, with this my present wife, are on this
wise : —

II. " First, that from the time I wedded her neither my
affection nor desire did embrace her : and of what kind is
her complexion, her desirableness, and her smell, her
carriage also at times under excessive drink, is known unto
the lords of the palace, to her maidens, and many others.
As it is hard for me to describe these things, I have
declared them fully to Bucer.

III. " Secondly, whereas I am of robust constitution, as
my physicians know, and it often chances that I must
attend for a length of time the assemblies of the confedera-
tion and the empire, where living is high and the body
pampered : it is easy to conjecture and conceive in what
strait I am without a wife, since it is not possible to carry
thither the incumbrance of a female train.

IV. '* If it shall be farther asked wherefore I did w^d
this my wife, ti'uly at that time' I was but an imprudent
man, and was persuaded thereunto by certain of my
councillors, of whom the greater part be now dead. My
marriage bond I did keep but three weeks unbroken, and
thus have I continued until now.

V. " Moreover the preachers do continually urge me to
punish misdeeds, fornication, and such like, which indeed
I willingly would do ; but how should I punish misdeeds
in the which I myself am plunged, when all men would
truly say : " Master, first punish thyself." Were I even
now to make wai' for the Gospel-cause, I should ever do i^o
with an evil conscience, and think wdthin myself : if thou
shalt fall by stroke of sword or shot of gun, or by any
other means, thou goest to the foul fiend." Meanwhile, I
have often called on God and prayed : but I remained
nevertheless the same.

BUCER. 199

VI. " Now indeed have I diligently considered the
Scriptures, both of the Old Testament and of the New, and
with what grace God hath given me, have diligently read
them, and therein can find none other counsel or means,
(seeing that from this manner of behaviour I neither cun
nor will abstain, with my present wife, which I witness
before God,) than to apply such remedies as are by God
allowed, and not forbidden. For the pious Fathers, such
as Abraham, Jacob, David, Lamech, Solomon, and others,
had more than one wife, and they believed in the same
Christ, in whom we believe, as St. Paul says in the tenth
chapter of the Epistle to the Corinthians. Moreover,
God in the Old Testament greatly praised such saints,
and Christ also in the New Testament greatly praises the
same ; the law also of Moses makes provision for a mans
behaviour in the case of his having two wives.

VII. " And if it be objected that this was allowed to
Abraham and the ancients on account of Christ promised,
yet is it found that the law of Moses allows it, and makes
mention of no man saying whether he had two wives or
not, and thus it excludes no man. Also, though Christ
was promised only to the stem of Judah, nevertheless the
father of Samuel, and King Achab and others had several
wives, wherefore it cannot stand that this was allowed only
on account of the promised Messias.

VIII. *' Since then neither God in the Old, nor Christ
in the New Testament, neither the Prophets nor the
Apostles forbade a man to have two wives : for no Prophet
nor Apostle ever for this cause did punish or blame kings
or princes, or other men, for that they had two wedded
wives at once, nor held it to be a crime or sin in them, or
that they should therefore not reach the kingdom of God :
since Paul tells of many who shall not reach that kingdom,
and makes no mention at all of such as have two wives :
the Apostles also, when they shewed the Gentiles how
they should behave, and from what things they should
abstain, when first they received them into the faith, (as
it is set forth in the Acts of the Apostles) forbade not this.

^00 BUCER.

that they should have two wives : since there were yet
many Gentiles who had more than one wife, neither was
it forbidden to the Jews, for the law allowed of it, and it
is in use among certain of them : When, therefore, Paul
clearly tells us a Bishop ought to be the husband of one
wife, as likewise a Deacon : he would have done so without
necessary cause, if every man were to have one wife only ;
and if it were so he would have enjoined it, and forbidden
to have several wives.

IX. " And besides this, even to this day, there be cer-
tain Christians in Eastern regions, who have wedded two
wives ; also the Emperor Valentinian, whom, notwith-
standing the historians, Ambrose, and other learned men
do praise, had himself two wives, and caused a law to be
set forth that other men also might have two.

X. " Moreover, though of that which follows I make not
much account, the Pope himself did grant to a certain
Count that had visited the holy sepulchre, and having
heard that his own was dead, had married another, that
he should keep them both. I know, too, that Luther and
Philip advised the King of England not to put away his
first wife, but to wed another besides her.

" If, however, it is objected, that he had no heir male of
his first wife, w^e think more should be granted to the
cause which Paul gives, that each man should have his
wife on account of fornication : for whether is of greater
weight, a good conscience, a soul's salvation, a Christian
life, escape from shameful and inordinate lust, or that a
man should even be without heirs whatsoever ? Seeing
that souls should ever be more cared for than mere
temporal matters.

XI. " Thus all these things have moved my mind, to
resolve, since it may be done doubtless with God's help,
to abstain from fornication and all uncleanness, using
thereunto the means which be permitted of God. I am
determined to remain no longer bound in the snares of
the devil, neitlier can I, neither wiU I, withdraw myself
but by this way. Wherefore be this my petition, to

BUCER. 201

Luther, Philip, and Bucer himself, that they be pleased
to give me a certificate, that in so doing I shall not act
unlawfully.

XII. " But if they at this time, fearing scandal or harm
to the Gospel-cause, are unwilling to print it publicly, my
prayer is that they give me a written certificate : that I
shall not act against God's will by doing so in private ;
that they themselves will hold it for a true marriage, and
seek for means to make this marriage public in due time,
to the end that the woman I shall wed may not pass for a
dishonest person ; but contrariwise, for honest. For they
may consider how gi'ievous it would else be for her whom
I shall wed to pass for one of unchristian and dishonest
conversation, — and that when the matter remains no
longer hidden, the whole Church will in course of time be
scandalized, not knowing on what terms I do cohabit with
this person.

XIII. " Let them not fear, moreover, that even should
I wed another wife, I shall on that account ill-treat my
present one, or refuse to share her bed, or shew to her less
kindness than heretofore : for I am ready in this matter
to bear my cross, be kind to, and converse with her. I
intend also to leave the sons whom I have of her, as
princes of my dominions, and provide for them all other
honourable things. This, then, once for all, is my peti-
tion, that for God's sake they would grant my desire, and
help me in such things as be not contrary to God's will,
so that I may live and die with a cheerful mind, and take
in hand with readier and more Christian spirit all affairs
of the Gospel-cause. For whatever they shall bid me so
to do, that is right and Christian, they shall find me
ready, whether it regard the goods of monaster Lea, or other
matter whatsoever.

XIV. " My will and desire is to take no more than one
wife besides my present one : so that herein the world and
worldly gain should not be looked to, but rather must we
look to God, and to what he commands, forbids, or leaves

20^ BUCER.

free to us. For the Emperor and the world will allow
me or any other man publicly to keep mistresses ; but
more than one wife they will not readily allow. What God
allows they forbid : what God forbids these same will
wink at, as it seems to me a like case to the marriage of
priests — for they allow priests no wives ; but let them keep
mistresses. The ecclesiastics hate us already so bitterly,
that they will not do so one whit more or less, for this
new article of allowing several wives to Christians.

XV. "Let Bucer, lastly, make Philip and Luther under-
stand that if, contrary to my expectation, I find no help
from them, I have several designs in my mind — amongst
others, to treat with the Emperor by intermediaries on
this point, even should it cost me much money, for there
is no likelihood of the Emperor's granting this permission
without a dispensation from the Pope, for which, indeed,
I care but little : but that of the Emperor I ought not to
despise, though I should make no account of that either,
did I not otherwise believe that my design is lawful, and
rather allowed than forbidden by God.

XVI. " Nevertheless, if my attempt on this side suc-
ceed not, a human fear urges me to demand the Emperor's
consent, which, as I have hinted, is not to be despised.
For I am convinced that I shall obtain all I j)lease, upon
giving a considerable sum of money to some of his coun-
cillors. But although I will not for anything in the world
withdraw myself from the Gospel, nor (by divine help)
allow myself to be engaged in any affair contrary to the
interest of the cause, I am, nevertheless, afraid lest the
imperialists should draw me into something not conducive
to its interests, or that of this party. I therefore call on
them to afford me the redress I seek, lest I should go seek
it in some other place less willingly : desirous a thousand
times rather to confide in such permission as they can
grant me, with good conscience before God, than to trust
in the Emperor's or any human permission whatever ; in
whichj however, I could place no trust at a'1, unless I was

BUCER. 208

not moreover sure that it is founded on Holy Writ, as
declared above.

XVII. "Lastly, I repeat my petition to Luther, Philip,
and Bucer, for their written opinion on this matter, in
order that henceforth I may amend my life, draw nigh
with a good conscience to the Sacrament ; and undertake
more freely and readily the affairs of our religion. Given
at Melsingnen, the Sunday after Catherine's Day, in the
year 1539.

Philip, Landgrave of Hesse."

Bucer conducted this most delicate affair with his usual
skill, and to his persuasions we may venture to attribute
the subsequent conduct of the Pieformers. The result of
the consultation of Luther, and the other doctors of his
persuasion, concerning polygamy, was stated in the follow-
ing letter to the Landgrave of Hesse : —

" We have been informed by Bucer, and in the instruc-
tion which your highness gave him, have read, the trouble
of mind, and the uneasiness of conscience your highness
is under at this present ; and although it seemed to us very
difficult so speedily to answer the doubts proposed; never-
theless we would not permit the said Bucer, who was
urgent for his return to your highness, to go away without
an answer in writing.

" It has been a subject of the greatest joy to us, and
we have praised God, for that he has recovered your
highness from a dangerous fit of sickness, and we pray
that he will long continue this blessing of perfect health
both in body and mind.

" Your highness is not ignorant how great need our
poor miserable, little, and abandoned Church stands in of
virtuous princes and rulers to protect her ; and we doubt
not but God will always supply her with some such,
although from time to time he threatens to deprive her of
them, and proves her by sundry temptations.

" These things seem to us of greatest imjDortance in the
question which Bucer has proposed to us : your highness

UOi BUCER.

sufl&ciently of yourself comprehends the difference there is
betwixt settling an universal law, (and using for urgent
reasons and with God's permission) a dispensation in a
particular case : for it is otherwise evident that no dispen-
sations can take place against the first of all laws, the
Divine law.

" We cannot at jyresent advise to introduce publicly,
and establish as a law in the New Testament, that of the
Old, which permitted to have more wives than one. Your
highness is sensible, should any such thing be printed,
that it would be taken for a precept, whence infinite trou-
bles and scandals would arise. We beg your highness to
consider the dangers a man would be exposed unto, who
should be convicted of having brought into Germany such
a law, which would divide families, and involve them in
endless strifes and disturbances.

" As to the objection that may be made, that what is
just in God's sight ought absolutely to be permitted, it
must be answered in this manner. If that which is just
before God, be besides commanded and necessary, the
objection is true : if it be neither necessary nor com-
manded, other circumstances, before it be permitted,
must be attended to ; and to come to the question in
hand : God hath instituted marriage to be a society of two
persons and no more, supposing nature were not cor-
rupted; and this is the sense of that text of Genesis,
' There shall be two in one flesh,' and this was observed
at the beginning.

" Lamech was the first that married many wives, and
the Scripture witnesses that this custom was introduced
conti'ary to the first Institution.

" It nevertheless passed into custom among infidel
nations ; and we even find afterwards, that Abraham and
his posterity had many wives. It is also certain from
Deuteronomy, that the law of Moses permitted it after-
wards, and that God made an allowance for frail nature.
Since it is then suitable to the creation of men, and to
the first establishment of their society, that each one be

BUCER. 205

content with one wife, it thence follows that the law en-
joining it is praiseworthy ; that it ought to be received in
the Church ; and no law contrary thereto be introduced
into it, because Jesus Christ has repeated in the nine-
teenth chapter of St. Matthew that text of Genesis,
'There shall be two in one flesh:' and brings to man's
remembrance what marriage ought to have been before it
degenerated from its purity.

" In certain cases, however, there is room for dispensation.
For example, if a married man, detained captive in a
distant country, should there take a second wife, in order
to preserve or recover his health, or that his own became
leprous, we see not how we could condemn, in these cases,
such a man as, by the advice of his pastor, should take
another wife, provided it were not with a design of intro-
ducing a new law, but with an eye only to his own parti-
cular necessities.

" Since then the introducing a new law, and the using
a dispensation with respect to the same law, are two very
different things, we intreat your highness to take what
follows into consideration.

" In the first place, above all things, care must be
taken, that plurality of wives be not introduced into the
world by way of law, for every man to follow as he thinks
fit. In the second place, may it please your highness to
reflect on the dismal scandal which would not fail to
happen, if occasion be given to the enemies of the Gospel
to exclaim, that we are like the Anabaptists, who have
several wives at once, and the Turks, who take as many
wdves as they are able to maintain.

" In the third place that the actions of princes are
more widely spread than those of private men.

" Fourthly, that inferiors are no sooner informed what
their superiors do, but they imagine they may do the
same, and by that means licentiousness becomes uni-
versal.

" Fifthly, that your highness's estates are filled with
an intractable nobility, for the most part very averse to

206 BUCER.

the Gospel, on account of the hopes they are in, as in
other countries, of obtaining the benefices of cathedral
Churches, the revenues whereof are very great. We know
the impertinent discourses vented by the most illustrious
of your nobility, and it is easily seen how they and the
rest of your subjects would be disposed, in case your high-
ness should authorize such a novelty.

" Sixthly, that your highness, by the singular grace of
God, hath a great reputation in the empire and foreign
countries ; and it is to be feared lest the execution of this
project of a double marriage should greatly diminish this
esteem and respect. The concurrence of so many scan-
dals, obliges us to beseech your highness to examine the
thing with all the maturity of judgment God has endowed
you with.

" With no less earnestness do we intreatyour highness,
by all means, to avoid fornication and adultery ; and, to
own the' truth sincerely, we have a long time been sen-
sibly grieved to see your highness abandoned to such
impurities, which might be followed by the effects of the
Divine vengeance, distempers, and many other dangerous
consequences.

"We also beg of your highness not to entertain a no-
tion, that the use of women out of marriage is but a light
and trifling fault, as the world is used to imagine : since
God hath often chastised impurity with the most severe
punishment : and that of the deluge is attributed to the
adulteries of the great ones : and the adultery of David
has afforded a terrible instance of the Divine vengeance :
and St. Paul repeats frequently, that God is not mocked
with impunity, and that adulterers shall not enter into
the kingdom of God. For it is said, in the second chap-
ter of the first Epistle to Timothy, that obedience must be
the companion of faith, in order to avoid acting against
conscience ; and in the third chapter of the first of St.
John ; if our heart condemn us not, we may call upon the
name of God with joy : and in the eighth chapter of the
Epistle to the Romans, if by the spirit we mortify the

BUCER. 207

desires of the flesh, we shall live : but, on the contrary,
we shall die, if we walk according to the flesh, that is, if
we act against our own consciences.

" We have related these passages, to the end that jour
highness may consider 'seriously that God looks not on
the vice of impurity as a laughing matter, as is supposed
by those audacious libertines, who entertain heathenish
notions on this subject. We are pleased to find that
your highness is troubled with remorse of conscience for
these disorders. The management of the most important
affairs in the world is now incumbent on your highness,
who is of a very delicate and tender complexion ; sleeps
but little ; and these reasons, which have obliged so many
prudent persons to manage their constitutions, are more
than sufficient to prevail with your highness to imitate
them.

" We read of the incomparable Scanderbeg, who so
frequently defeated the two most powerful Emperors of
the Turks, Amurat II. and Mahomet II., and whilst alive,
preserved Greece from their tyranny, that he often ex-
horted his soldiers to chastity, and said to them, that
there was nothing so hurtful to men of their profession, as
venereal pleasures. And if your highness, after marrying
a second wife, were not to forsake those licentious dis-
orders, the remedy proposed would be to no purpose.
Every one ought to be master of his own body in external
actions, and see, according to the expression of St. Paul,
that his members be the arms of justice. May it please
your highness, therefore, impartially to examine the con-
siderations of scandal, of labours, of care, of trouble, and
of distempers, which have been represented. And at the
same time remember that God has given you a numerous
issue of such beautiful children of both sexes by the prin-
cess your wife, that you have reason to be satisfied there-
with. How many others, in marriage, are obliged to the
exercise and practice of patience, from the motive only of
avoiding scandal ? We are far from urging on your high-
ness to introduce so difficult a novelty into your family.

'208 BUCER.

By so doing, we should draw upon ourselves not only the
reproaches and persecution of those of Hesse, but of all
other people. The which would be so much the less
supportable to us, as God commands us in the ministry
which we exercise, as much as we are able, to regulate
marriage, and all the other duties of human life, accord-
ing to the Divine Institution, and maintain them in that
state, and remove all kind of scandal.

" It is now customary among worldlings, to lay the blame
of every thing upon the preachers of the Gospel. The
heart of man is equally fickle in the more elevated and
lower stations of life ; and much have we to fear on that
score.

" As to what your highness says, that it is not possible
for you to abstain from this impure life, we wish you were
in a better state before God, that you lived with a secure
conscience, and laboured for the salvation of your own
soul, and the welfare of your subjects.

" But after all, if your highness is fully resolved to marry
a second wife, w^e judge it ought to be done secretly, as we
have said with respect to the dispensation demanded on
the same account, that is, that none but the person you
shall w^ed, and a few trusty persons, know of the matter,
and they, too, obliged to secrecy under the seal of confes-
sion. Hence no contradiction nor scandal of moment is
to be apprehended ; for it is no extraordinary thing for
princes to keep concubines ; and though the vulgar should
be scandalized thereat, the more intelligent would doubt
of the truth, and prudent persons would approve of this
moderate kind of life, preferably to adultery, and other
brutal actions. There is no need of being much concerned
for what men will say, provided all goes right with con-
science. So far do we approve it, and in those circum-
stances only by us specified; for the Gospel hath neither
recalled nor forbid what was permitted in the law of
Moses with respect to marriage. Jesus Christ has not
changed the external economy, but added justice only,
and life everlasting, for reward. He teaches the true way

BUCER. 20Q

of obeying God, and endeavours to repair the corruption
of nature.

"Your highness hath therefore, in this writing, not only
the approbation of us all, in case of necessity, concerning
what you desire, but also the reflections we have made
thereupon ; we beseech you to weigh them, as becoming a
virtuous, wise, and Christian prince. We also beg of God
to direct all for His glory and your highness's salvation.

"As to your highness's thought of communicating this
affair to the Emperor before it be concluded, it seems to
us that this prince counts adultery among the lesser sort
of sins ; and it is very much to be feared lest his faith
being of the same stamp with that of the Pope, the
Cardinals, the Italians, the Spaniards, and the Saracens,
he make light of your highness's proposal, and turn it to
his own advantage by amusing your highness ^vith vain
words. We know he is deceitful and perfidious, and has
nothing of the German in him.

" Your highness sees, that he uses no sincere endea-
vour to redress the grievances of Christendom ; that he
leaves the Turk unmolested, and labours for nothing but
to divide the empire, that he may raise up the house of
Austria on its ruins. It is therefore very much to be
^vished that no Christian prince would give into his per-
nicious schemes. May God preserve your highness. We
are most ready to serve your highness.

" Given at Wittemberg the Wednesday after the feast
of Saint Nicholas, 1539.

" Your higness's most humble, and most obedient
subjects and servants,

Martin Luther.

Philip Melancthon.

Martin Bucer.

Antony Corvin.

Adam.

John Leningue.

Justus Wintferte.

Denis Melanther.

VOL. III. T

Sia BUCER.

" I George Nuspicher, notary imperial, bear testimoDy
by this present act, written and signed with my own hand,
that I have transcribed this present copy from the trae
original which is in Melancthon's own handwriting, and
hath been faithfully preserved to this present time, at the
request of the most serene Prince of Hesse ; and have
examined with the greatest exactness every line and every
tvord, and collated them with the same original ; and have
found them conformable thereunto, not only in the things
themselves, but also in the signs manual, and have
delivered the present copy in five leaves of good paper,
■whereof I bear witness.

*' George Nuspicher, Notary."

" The marriage contract of Philip, Landgrave of Hesse
with Margaret de Saal.

" In the name of God, Amen.

** Be it known to all those, as well in general as in par-
ticular, who shall see, hear, or read this public instru-
ment, that in the year 1540, on Wednesday the fourth
day of the month of March, at two o'clock or thereabouts,
in the afternoon, the thirteenth year of the Indiction, and
the twenty-first of the reign of the most puissant and
most victorious Emperor Charles V., our most gracious
Lord ; the most serene Prince and Lord Philip Landgrave
of Hesse, Count of Catznelenbogen, of Dietz, of Ziegen-
hain, and Nidda, with some of his highness's counsel-
lors, on one side, and the good and virtuous Lady Mar-
garet de Saal wdth some of her relations, on the other
side, have appeared before me, notary and witness under-
written, in the city of Rotenburg, in the castle of the same
city, with the design and will publicly declared before me,
notary public and witness, to unite themselves by mar-
riage ; and accordingly my most gracious Lord and Prince
Philip the Landgrave hath ordered this to be proposed by
the Reverend Denis Melander preacher to his highness,
much to the sense as follows : ' Whereas the eye of God

BUCER. Sli

searches all things, and but little escapes the knowledge
of men, his highness declares that his will is to wed the
said Lady Margaret de Saal, although the princess his
wife be still living, and that this action may not be im-
puted to inconstancy or curiosity : to avoid scandal and
maintain the honour of the said lady, and the reputation
of her kindred, his highness makes oath here before God,
and upon his soul and conscience, that he takes her to
wife through no levity, nor curiosity, nor from any con-
tempt of law, or superiors ; but that he is obliged to it by
such important, such inevitable necessities of body and
conscience, that it is impossible for him to save either
body or soul, without adding another wife to his first
All which his highness hath laid before many learned,
devout, prudent, and Christian preachers, and consulted
them upon it. And these great men, after examining the
motives represented to them, have advised his highness to
put his soul and conscience at ease by this double mar-
riage. And the same cause and the same necessity have
obliged the most serene princess, Christina Duchess of
Saxony, his highness's first lawful wife, out of her great
prudence and sincere devotion, for which she is so much
to be commended, freely to consent and admit of a part-
ner, to the end, that the soul and body of her most dear
spouse may run no further risk, and the glory of God may
be increased, as the deed written with this princess's own
hand sufficiently testifies. And lest occasion of scandal
be taken from its not being the custom to have two wives,
although this be Christian and lawful in the present case,
his highness will not solemnize these nuptials in the
ordinary way, that is, publicly before many people, and
with the wonted ceremonies, wdth the said Margaret de
Saal ; but both the one and the other will join themselves
in wedlock, privately and without noise, in presence only
of the witnesses underwritten.'

" After Melander had finished his discourse, the said
Philip and the said Margaret accepted of each other for
husband and wife, and promised mutual fidelit^^ in the

a 12 BUCER

name of God. The said prince hath required of me,
notary underwritten, to draw liim one or more collected
copies of this contract, and hath also promised, on the
word and faith of a prince, to me a public person, to ob-
serve it inviolably, always and without alteration, in pre-
sence of the Reverend and most learned masters Philip
Melancthon, Martin Bucer, Denis Melander : and likewise
in the presence of the illustrious and valiant Eberhard de
Than, counsellor of his electoral highness of Saxony,
Herman de Malsberg, Herman de Hundelshausen, the
Lord John Fegg of the chancery, Rodulph Schenck ; and
also in the presence of the most honourable and most
virtuous Lady Anne of the family of Miltitz, widow of the
late John de Saal, and mother of the spouse, all in
quality of requisite witnesses for the validity of the pre-
sent act.

" And I Balthasar Rand, of Fuld, notary public im-
perial, who was present at the discourse, instruction,
marriage, espousals, and union aforesaid, with the said
witnesses, and have heard and seen all that passed, have
wTitten and subscribed the present contract, being re-
quested so to do ; and set to it the usual seal, for a
testimonial of the truth thereof.

"Balthasar Rand."

Bucer seemed to be consistent only in his hostility to
the Papists. To form a compact party against them he
was prepared to sacrifice truth itself; he was a party man,
and when he was assailed on any point tending to Popery
he was firm. Vacillating and ready to concede as he had
been in all conferences between Lutherans and Zuinglians,
ready as he was to think with Zuinglius, and to speak
with Luther, yet, when, in 1548, he was sent for to Augs-
burg to sign the Formula ad Interim, which Charles V.,
partly to vent his resentment against the Pope, and
partly for political purposes, had caused to be drawn up,
Bucer steadily refused to comply. The one point on
which he had made up his mind was now touched upon.

BUCiEii. 213

his only principle attacked, and he was firm. In the
Interim the spiritual peculiarities of the Romish system
were retained, though softened and mitigated by the
moderate and prudent terms in which they were ex-
pressed. Following the example of Bucer, the compilers
of the Interim had purposely adopted an ambiguity in
many of the expressions, which rendered them applicable
to the sentiments of either Romanists or Protestants. It
was Bucer's principle in the formation of confessions of
Faith applied on a larger scale. He adopted ambiguous
expressions to unite the divided Reformers, and bring
together Lutherans and Zuinglians ; the Interim was
designed to unite these again with the Romanists. Bucer
was not to be caught in the net that he had himself laid
for others. In vain did the Elector of Brandenburg urge
him to yield, Bucer was resolute on this point, and was,
consequently, involved in many difficulties and some
danger, being hated by Romanists, and distrusted by
Protestants.

The very circumstances which were injurious to Bucer's
usefulness on the continent marked him out as a man
likely to be useful to the Lord Ai-chbishop of Canterbury,
Dr. Cranmer. He was a strong anti- Romanist, and at the
same time not pledged to any decided views on the Pro-
testant side : powerful on the negative side of religion,
open to conviction on the doctrinal points not bearing
upon Rome.

The Archbishop of Canterbury offered him his patron-
age, and invited him to England. The invitation was
accepted, and we may say unfortunately accepted, for he
obtained some influence over the gentle but too pliant
mind of the Archbishop, who bore so prominent a part in
the early Reformation of our Church. Whenever he was
consulted, the question which presented itself to Bucer's
mind, was not what is truth, but what will tell against
Rome.

When he arrived in England Bucer was kindly received
2t

2U BUCER.,

and hospitably entertained by the Archbishop of Can-
terbury. He was soon after sent to Cambridge, where
ample provision was made for him, and he was licensed to
teach theology.

Peter Martyr, another foreigner, occupied a similar
post at Oxford, where, in a public disputation with
those members of our Church who held the Romish doc-
trine of the Eucharist, he maintained, First, that in the
Sacrament of the Eucharist the bread and wine are not
transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ;
Secondly, that the Body and Blood of Christ are not cor-
porally or carnally in the bread and wine, or, as some ex-
press themselves, under the species of bread and wine ;
Thirdly, that the Body and Blood of Christ are sacra-
mentally united to the bread and wine. Peter Martyr
sent a copy of the conference to Bucer, expressing his
fears lest he should not agree with him. Bucer s answer,
as taken from his Script. Anglican, may be seen in
Collier's Eccles. Hist. p. 274, who justly observes, that it
is in many places intricate and involved ; but Bucer seems
to admit much more than would be admitted by many in
these days, for he cannot " comprehend how it can be
maintained as a Catholic tenet, that Christ is not really and
substantially given and received in the Holy Eucharist."
And again, " although he denies a corjDoral or local pre-
sence in the Holy Eucharist, yet he thinks we ought to
be close to the terms of Scripture, and the manner of ex-
pression used by the ancient Church. Now in the language
of the New Testament and the fathers the exhibiting —
(shewing forth,) — of Christ is fully expressed. By which
we understand the presence of our Lord, and not any
mock of remembrance which supposes him absent. It is
true the bread and wine are properly called signs with
relation to something further, and so is the whole solem-
nity. But then these signs or references to something
past are not the principal things in this Holy Sacrament.
The exhibiting and spiritual manducation of Christ, is the

BUCER. 215

most beneficial and glorious part of the Communion : and
therefore the fathers chose rather to express the mystery
by the term of representing than that of signifying." In
another place he remarks that he is afraid if the conference
should be made public, from some expressions made use
of by Peter Martyr, that the reader might suppose him to
teach that " the benefit of communicating reached no fur-
ther than to the refreshing of our faith, and bringing our
Saviour more strongly to the memory, serving only to give
a more lively and affecting idea of the blessing of our
redemption, and to suggest thoughts to be cherished and
improved by the Holy Spirit." "The reader, I am afraid,"
continues Bucer, " will intei-pret you to no higher mean-
ing than this ; he will not imagine you to assert that as
Christ first commnnicated Himself to His members in bap-
tism, so He exhibits Himself more and inore present, (amplius
et amplius exhibeat presentem,) in the Holy Eucharist, and
communicates Himself to such a degree of intimacy ami
union that they really sidjsist and remain in Him, and receive
Him reciprocally to themselves. In short, I am afraid peo-
ple will think you do not hold the presence of Christ, but
only the presence of the Spirit of Christ and the efiicacy
consequent upon it." He afterwards says, " the blessing
is conveyed through the symbols of bread and wine."

Such were the views of one who took the lowest view of
the Holy Eucharist among the Reformers, and such views
will doubtless astonish those Socinianizing members of
the Church of England of the present day, who accuse of
Popery all who hold the fundamental doctrines of the
Christian religion. Bucer had at this time adopted
Calvin's opinion on the Eucharist, which that reformer
thus expressed : —

" We confess that the spiritual life vouchsafed us by
Christ in this Sacrament does not only consist in His
quickening us by His Spirit : but over and above this
blessing by virtue of His Spirit, He makes us partakers of
that principle of life His Flesh. By which participation
we are nourished to immortal life. Therefore when we

216 BUCER.

mention the communion of the faithful with Christ, we
understand their communicating with His Body and
Blood, no less than with His Spirit ; that thus they may
be in possession of their whole Saviour. For the Scrip-
ture plainly declares, that His Flesh is meat to us indeed,
and His Blood is drink indeed : and if we expect a life by
Christ, we ought to grow and support ourselves by such
nourishment. Thus the Apostle had no common meaning,
when he tells us, we are flesh of Christ's Flesh, and bone
of His Bone : no ; by this language he insinuates our
communion or communication with His Body ; a mystery
so sublime that no words are able to reach the dignity of
the thing. Neither does our Saviour's ascension, nor the
absence of the local presence of His Body, infer any in-
consistency with this privilege. For notwithstanding in
this state of mortality we live at a distance, and are not in
the same place with Him, yet the force of His Spirit is
not confined by any corporeal intei^positions, nor hindered
from uniting things, though at the remotest intervals of
space : we acknowledge, therefore. His Spirit is the prin-
ciple of union, and the band, as it were, of communication
with Himself. But then we desire to be understood in
this sense, that this Holy Spirit does really feed us with
the substance of our Lord's Flesh and Blood, and quickens
us with the participation of them for the glorious purposes
of immortality. And that Christ offers and exhibits this
communion of His Flesh and Blood, under the symbols of
bread and wine, to those who celebrate the Holy Eucharist
pursuant to His institution." — Calvins Epist. 326.

When HoojDer, on his nomination to the see of Glou-
cester, refused to wear the episcopal vestments, and the
whole question relating to the surplice, &c., was mooted,
Bucer was consulted ; and although he wished " the gar-
ments were removed by law," yet, " since those garments
had been used by the ancient fathers before Popery, and
might still be of good use to the weak when well under-
stood," he wished Hooper to lay aside his objections.

In 1550 he had a disputation with certain members of

BUCER. 217

our Church who held Romish opinions, and he appears
not to have had the best of the argument.

The first English Prayer Book had been published in
1548. It was a translation and re-arrangement of the
old offices, which had always been used in the Church
of England; it had been revised and affirmed by the
Archbishops, Bishops, and Clergy of our Church in con-
vocation assembled ; it had been accepted by the King,
and three estates of the Parliament, who gave it their just
encomium, that the work was done " by the aid of the
Holy Ghost." The whole was so judiciously and wisely
done, that though neither the Romish Party, nor the
Ultra-protestant Party, in the Church were satisfied, yet
both for a time conformed to it.

At the end of the year 1550, however, the Archbishop
of Canterbury so far listened to the Ultra-protestant outcry
that he determined on a revision of the book. And Bucer
was consulted by him on the occasion. Being ignorant
of our language, he had the book translated by a Scotch-
man ; and though he thanked God for having given the
English grace to reform the ceremonies, and declared that
he found nothing in it contrary to the word of God, he
proceeded to censure with not a little freedom and pre-
sumption. His objections, and the refutation of them,
may be seen in Collier s Eccles. Hist. p. '29G.

The objections of Bucer and Peter Martyr, as is well
known, were permitted to have undue weight, and operated
injuriously to the Church of England, when shortly after
alterations were made in our ritual, as it was asserted,
•' from curiosity rather than any worthy cause." A curious
reason to assign for a change at such a crisis, in such a
work.

Bucer was much noticed by young King Edward YI.
for whom he wrote a book " Concerning the kingdom of
Christ," which he presented as a new year's gift. It refer-
red to the miseries of Germany and the German reforma-
tion, and to the want of ecclesiastical discipline, the
adoption of which he strongly recommended in England,

SI 8 BUCKERIDGE.

beginning by a more careful refusal of the Eucharist to ill
livers, by the sanctification of the Lord's day, of holidays,
and of days of fasting, which last he proposed should be
more numerous and less confined to Lent, a season which
had been popularly disregarded ; and by the reduction of
non-residence and pluralities, the true remnants of Popery.
Bacer died at Cambridge in the close of February, 1550,
and was buried in St. Mary's with great ceremony, his
remains being attended by 3,000 persons jointly from
the university and the town. A Latin speech was made
over his grave by Dr. Haddon, the public orator, and an
English sermon was then preached by Parker, afterwards
Archbishop of Canterbury ; and on the following day,
Dr. Redman, Master of Trinity College, preached at St.
Mary's a sermon in his commendation. When in the
reign of Queen Mary the Romanizing party regained the
ascendency in our Church which they had lost in the pre-
ceding reigns, among the offensive measures they adopted,
by which the very name of Romanist has been rendered
odious to British ears, they caused the remains of Bucer
and Fagius to be dug up, fastened erect by a chain to
stakes in the market-place and burnt to ashes. The heads
of houses, too subservient to the ruling powers, erased
their names at the same time from all public acts and
registers as heretics and deniers of the true faith. — Mel-
chior Adam. Strype's Lives. Sleidan. Bossuet. Burnet.
Collier. D'Auhigny. Samuel Clark. Bayle. Mosheim.

BUCKEKIDGE, JOHN.

This eminent divine was born in the neighbour-
hood of Marlborough, in what year is not certain. His
mother was related to Sir Thomas White, founder of
St. John's College, Oxford. He was, therefore, as
a matter of course, sent to Merchant Tailors' School,
and from thence he was elected, in 1578, to St. John's,
where he became a fellow and tutor. As tutor of the

BUCKERIDGE. 219

college he had the distinguished hoDour of having
William Laud for his pupil. At the latter end of 1596
he took his D.D. degree. After leaving the university, he
became chaplain to Robert, Earl of Essex, and was rector
of North Fambridge, in Essex, and of North Kilworth, in
Leicestershire, and was afterwards one of Archbishop
Whitgift's chaplains, and made prebendary of Hereford,
and of Rochester. In 1604 he was preferred to the arch-
deaconry of Northampton; and the same year, Nov. 5,
was presented, by King James, to the vicarage of St.
Giles's, Cripplegate, in which he succeeded Dr. Andrewes,
then made Bishop of Chichester. About the same time
he was chaplain to the King ; was elected President of
St. John's College, 1605, and installed canon of Windsor,
April 15, 1606.

Buckeridge was now regarded as one of the great
divines of the day, and when Melville and the Scottish
faction were summoned before the King in 1606, Bucke:
ridge was one of those clergymen who were summoned to
preach in their presence at Hampton Court. But nothing
could move the hard hearts of the Scottish Presbyterians,
whose insolence to their Sovereign disgusted the King's
loyal subjects in England, and shewed of what spirit they
were. Buckeridge took his text out of Romans, xiii. 1,
and managed the discourse (as Archbishop Spotswood,
who was present, relates) both soundly and learnedly, to
the satisfaction of all the hearers ; only it grieved the
Scotch ministers to hear the Pope and Presbytery so often
equalled in their opposition to Sovereign princes. Macrie,
in his Life of Melville, says, " Dr. Buckeridge, President
of St. John's College, preached the second sermon which
was intended to prove the royal supremacy in ecclesiastical
matters. It was chiefly borrowed from Bilson's book on
that subject, with this addition, that the preacher con-
founded the doctrine of the Presbyterians with that of the
Papists." This accords with the character given of him
by Wood, who says, that he was a person of great gravity
and learning, and one that knew as well as any other

S30 BUCKERIDGE.

person of his time, how to employ the two-edged sword of
holy Scripture on the one side against the Papists, and on
the other against the Puritans.

The first sermon delivered on this occasion, was
preached by Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, from Acts, xx. '28.
in defence of the antiquity and superiority of Bishops,
which the Scotch Presbyterians with their accustomed
sarcasm characterized as " a confutation of his text." The
sermon, says Melville, " was written and finely compacted
in a little book, which he always had in his hand for help
of his memorie." The Presbyterian preachers called this
a " pulpit show," and turned the whole into ridicule.

In 1611 Buckeridge was nominated to the see of
Rochester, to which he was consecrated June 9. After-
wards, by the interest of his grateful pupil. Dr. Laud,
then Bishop of Bath and Wells, he was translated to Ely,
upon the death of Dr. Felton, in 16^6.

On the 11th of November, 16:26, he preached at St. Sa-
\dour's, Southwark, the funeral sermon of the celebrated
Bishop xlndrewes, that blessed Saint of the Church of
England. Buckeridge took for his text, Heb. xiii. 16. He
commenced the sermon with the following statement :

"In the tenth verse the Apostle saith, 'We have an
altar, of which they have no right to eat that serve
the tabernacle.' Habemus altare, 'We have,' that is,
Christians. So it is pt'oprium Christianorum, ' proper to
Christians,' not common to the Jews together with
Christians ; they have no right to communicate and eat
there, that ' serve the tabernacle.' And yet it is commune
altare, ' a common altar' to all Christians, they have all
right to eat there. And so it is externum altare, not only
a spiritual altar in the heart of every Christian — then
St. Paul should have said habeo, or habet unusquisque, ' I
have,' and ' every Christian hath in private to himself —
but ' We have an altar,' that is, all Christians have ; and
it must be external, else all Christians cannot have it.

!' Our Head, Christ, offered His sacrifice of Himself upon
the cross ; Criuc altare Christi ; and the ' cross of Christ

BUCKERIDGE. 2-21

was the altar' of our Head, where He offered the unicum,
veruni, et proprium sacrijicium, 'the only, tme, proper
sacrifice, propitiatory' for the sins of mankind, in which
all other sacrifices are accepted, and applicatory of this
propitiation."

After shewing the incorrectness of the sacrificial %-iew
taken by the Romanists, both from Scripture and the
fathers, he proceeds : —

" We deny not then the daily sacrifice of the Church,
that is, the Church itself, warranted by Scriptures and
fathers. We take not upon us to sacrifice the natural
body of Christ otherwise than by commemoratioD, as
Christ Himself and St. Paul doth prescribe. They rather
that take a power never given them over the natural body
of Christ, which once offered by Himself purchased eternal
redemption all-sufficient for sin, to offer it again and often,
never thinking of the offering of Christ's mystical body,
the Church, that is ourselves, our souls and bodies — they,
I say, do destroy the daily sacrifice of Christians, which is
most acceptable to God.

" Now then that which went before in the Head, Christ,
on the cross, is daily performed in the members, in the
Church. Christ there offered Himself once for us ; we
daily offer ourselves by Christ, that so the whole mystical
body of Christ in due time may be offered to God.

" This was begun in the Apostles in their Liturgy, of
whom it is said, Ministrantihus illis, ' While they minis-
tered and prayed the Holy Ghost said unto them,' &c.
Erasmus reads it, Sacrificantihus illis, ' While they sacri-
ficed and prayed.' If they had offered Christ's natural
body, the Apostles would surely have made some mention
of it in their writings, as well as they do of the commemo-
rative sacrifice. The word is Xst'rovfyovvruv so it is a litur-
gical sacrifice, or a sacrifice performed or offered in our
Liturgy or form of God's worship ; so the offering of our-
selves, our souls, and bodies, is a part of divine worship.

"Now as it is not enough to feed our own souls, unless

VOL. III. u

•223 BUCKERIDGE.

we also feed both the souls and bodies of the poor, and
there is no true fast unless we distribute that to the poor
which we deny to our own bellies and stomachs ; and
there cannot be a perfect and complete adoration to God
in our devotions, unless there be also doing good and
distributing to our neighbours ; therefore to the sacrifice
of praise and thanksgiving in the Eucharist in the Church,
mentioned in the fifteenth verse, we must also add bene-
ficence and communication in this text ; for, Devotio
dehetur Capiti, henejicentia memhris, ' The sacrifice of devo-
tion is due to our Head, Christ, and piety and charity is
due to the members.' So then, offer the sacrifice of praise
to God daily in the church, as in the fifteenth verse; and
distribute and communicate the sacrifice of compassion
and alms to the poor out of the church, as in this text.

" Shall I say extra Eccledam, ' out of the church ?' I
do not say amiss if I do say so ; yet I must say also iiitra
Ecclesiam ; this should be a sacrifice in the church, the
Apostles kept it so in their time. Primo die, ' the first
day of the week,' when they came together to pray and to
break bread, St. Paul's rule was, separet unusquisque, ' let
every one set apart' or ' lay by in store, as God hath pros-
pered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.'
And our Liturgy in the offertory tenders her prayers and
alms on the Lord's-day or Sunday, as a part of the sacri-
fice or service of that day, and of God's worship ; which
I wish were more carefully observed among us. For
this also is a Liturgy or office, so called by the Apostle,
77 Jiaxovict rri^ Xetroy pyia?, ' the administration of this service,'
or ' Office,' or 'Liturgy ;' there is the word ' Liturgy' and
'Office.' For the daily service and sacrifice not only sup-
plieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by
many thanksgivings unto God. So the Lord's-day, or
Sunday, is then best kept and observed, when to our
prayers and praises and sacrifices of ourselves, our souls
and bodies, we also add the sacrifice of our goods and
alms, and other works of mercy to make it up perfect and

BUCKLAND. 223

complete, that there may be opus diet in die siw, * the
work of the day in the proper day thereof,' and these two
sacrifices of praise and alms, joined here by God and His
Apostle, may never be parted by us in our lives and
practice."

The sermon concludes with an account of that great
and good prelate, Bishop Andrewes, of which use has
been made in the life of Andrewes in the present work.

Bishop Buckeridge did not long survive his illustrious
friend. Reverenced by all who knew him for his deep
and severe personal piety, respected by his clergy as a
just governor, he died on the 23rd of May, 1631, and was
buried in the parish church of Bromley in Kent.

His works are, — De Potestate Papas in Piebus Tempo-
ralibus, sive in Regibus deponendis usurpata : adversus
Robertum Cardinalem Bellarminum, lib. ii. In quibus
respondetur Authoribus, Scripturis, Rationibus, Exemplis
contra Gul. Barclaium allatis, Lond. 1614, 4to ; a very-
able work. He published, also, A Discourse on Kneeling
at the Communion, and some occasional sermons. — Wood.
Andrewes' Works. Spotswood. Macries Life of Melville.
Bentliams Ely.

BUCKLAND, RALPH.

Ralph BTJCKLA^'D was born at West Harptre in Somer-
setshire, about 1564, and in 1579 he entered as a com-
moner in Magdalen College, Oxford, and afterwards passed
some years in one of the inns of court. Having at last
embraced the Popish religion, he spent seven years in the
English College at Rheims, whence he removed to Rome ;
and being ordained priest, returned to England, acted as
a missionary for about twenty years, and died in 1611.
He published, — 1. A Translation of the Lives of the
Saints, from Surius. 2. A Persuasive against frequent-
ing Protestant Churches, 12mo. 3. Seven Sparks of the
Enkindled Flame, with Four Lamentations, composed in
the hard times of Queen Elizabeth, 12mo. From this

024 BUDDEUS.

book, Archbishop Usher, in a sermon preached at St.
Mary's, Oxford, in 1640, on November 5, produced some
passages which he beheved to hint at the gunpowder
plot. 4. De Persecutione Vandihea, a translation from
the Latin of Victor, Bishop of Biserte or Utica. — Wood.
Dod.

BUDDEUS, JOHN FRANCIS.

John Francis Buddeus was born in 1667 at Anclam,
in Pomerania. At the age of eighteen he was sent to the
university of Wittemberg, where he took his master's
degree in 1687; and two years afterwards became assis-
tant professor of philosophy. He removed from thence to
Jena, next to Copenhagen, and afterwards to Halle, but
returned to Jena to take the chair of theology in 1705.
He died in 1729.

He was a distinguished contributor to the Acta Erudi-
torum of Leipsic, and to the great Historical Dictionary,
printed there in 1709, in folio, and published under his
direction and with his name. He also published, 1. De
Peref^rinationibus Pythagorse, Jena, 1692, folio. 2. Ele-
menta Philosophise Practicse, Instmmentalis et Theoreticae,
3 vols, 8vo. 1697. 3. Institutiones Theologiae Moralis,
1711, 4to, often reprinted. 4. Historia Juris Naturae,
Jena, 1695, Ley den, 1711, Halle, 1717, 8vo. 5. Sapientia
Veterum, hoc est, Dicta Illustriora septem Graeciae Sapi-
entum, Halle, 1699, 4to. 6. Introductio ad Historiam
Philosophise Ebraeorum, ib. 1702. 7. Analecta Historiae
Philosophicse, ib. 1706, 1724, 8vo. 8. Compendium
Historise Philosophicse, ib. 1731, 8vo. 9. Ecclesia Apos-
tolica, sive de Statu Ecclesias sub Apostolis, Jena, 1729,
8vo. 10. Historia Ecclesiastica Veteris Testamenti, 1715,
1718, 2 vols, 4to, a valuable work. 11. Institutiones
Theologicae, Dogmaticae, variis Observationibus illustratae,
1723, 1724, 1726, 3 vols. 4to. 12. Miscellanea Sacra,
1727, 3 vols, 4to.

BUGENHAGIUS. 225

BUGENHAGIUS, JOHN.

John Bugenhagius, sumamed from his country Pomer-
anus, was born at Wollin in Pomerania, on the 24th of
June, 1485. His parents, who were of senatorial rank,
took considerable pains with his education until he was of
age to go to the university of Grypswald, where he devoted
himself so assiduously to classical studies, that he \Yas
appointed at the age of twenty to the mastership of the
school at Treptow, where he became distinguished as a
teacher. He attended to the religious as well as the
classical education of his pupils, and being a man of
literature, his attention was naturally directed to the works
of so distinguished a scholar as Erasmus. The writings of
Erasmus against the friars and the idolatry of the times,
first awakened Bugenhagius to the necessity of a reformation
of the Church, a subject upon which all serious minds
had been long agreed, although none could decide on the
proper manner of accomplishing it. Bugenhagius wished
the minds of others to receive the same impression as his
own, and therefore in his school he lectured on the Psalm's,
St. Matthew's Gospel, the Epistles to Timothy, together
with the Apostles' Creed and the Ten Commandments.
These lectures became public from the desire people had
to attend them ; and when soon after he was ordained
priest, he became popular as a preacher, and his sphere of
usefulness was extended. How high his character stood
among his countrymen at this time is shewn by his having
been engaged by Prince Bogislas to write a history of
Pomerania. This work, which he completed in the course
of two years, was not published till 1728. The prince at
first received it in manuscript, for the use of himself and
his court, and afterwards, perhaps, neglected it, as his
regard for Bugenhagius ceased when the latter became a
Lutheran. The prince and his spiritual advisers were
not unwilling to hear of a reformation of the Church, but
to the reformation of Luther they were opposed, and the
2u

226 BUGENHAGIUS.

very suspicion of being a Lutheran was sure to involve a
man in difficulties.

One eveniog towards the end of December, 1520, as
Bugenhagius sat at supper with with some friends, a copy
of Luther's book on the Babylonish Captivity was put into
his hands, " Since Christs death, said he, after having
glanced it over, there have been many heretics to vex the
Church, but never yet has there risen up such a pest as
the author of this book." But Bugenhagius was apt to
form his judgment hastily, and on perusing the book more
carefully, his opinion was expressed as violently in favour
of Luther as it had before been against him, and in a few
days he declared as dogmatically and with as little discre-
tion as before, " the whole world has been lying in thick
darkness. This man, and none but he, has discovered
the truth." This monstrous proposition must have as-
tonished those to whom it was propounded. All men had
been ignorant of God's truth until Luther discovered it !
And Bugenhagius was qualified, after a few days study, to
pronounce upon the infallibility of this new pope ! A man
s'o vehement, however, was sure to find supporters, some
priests, a deacon, and an abbot, became his partizans,
embraced Lutheranism, called by D'Aubigny, " the pure
doctrine of salvation," and created a considerable sensation
and disturbance. The Prince and the Bishop very natu-
rally attempted to put a stop to these proceedings, and
have been called on that accouut by some historians perse-
cutors, though such sort of persecution has been resorted
to, as the means of preventing riot and confusion, by
Protestants not less than by Papists. Bugenhagius,
having made the place too hot for his residence, fled to
Wittemberg, where the Protestant movement was under
the sanction of the state. By Luther he was rapturously
received, and was employed by him in expounding the
Book of Psalms, a work for which, by his previous studies,
he found him to be prepared.

When Luther was in captivity in the castle of Wartburg,

BUGENHAGIUS. 227

one of his disciples, Bernard Feldkirchen, the pastor of
Kemberg, in spite of his vows of celibacy, married. The
compulsory celibacy of the clergy is one of the worst prac-
tical corruptions of the Church of Rome. It would have
been well if the foreign Reformers, like some of the best
of our own, had vindicated the liberty for others, but
remained unmarried themselves. They laid themselves
open to the attacks of their enemies, by seeking the
indulgence for themselves, and they were suspected of
having but little respect for the marriage vow itself. If
they disregarded one vow, they might for the sake of
expediency, it was argued, disregard another. (See the Life
of Biicer.) Luther, however, was prepared to defend the
conduct of his friend, which he afterwards imitated ; he
saw a distinction at first, which he did not afterwards
admit, between the marriage of priests and j:hat of monks.
Writing to Melancthon he says, " The priests are ordained
by God, and therefore they are above the commandments
of men ; but the friars have, of their own accord, chosen a
life of celibacy, — they therefore are not at liberty to with-
draw from the obligation they have laid themselves under."
But though he could write thus sensibly upon the subject
in his cooler moments, he soon perceived that if he were
to establish his party in strength, he must annihilate the
monastic system, and that the most effectual mode of
doing this, was to invite the monks to leave their cells and
preach his doctiines, by offering them wives ; and in an
address to his followers at Wittemberg, he proclaimed
liberty of marriage to the monks, and with more of vehe-
mence than charity, declared of convents, that they were
" abodes of the devil,'' which, of course, ought to be razed
to the ground.

Bugenhagius accorded in opinion with his master, and
proved the sincerity of his principles by marrying; ob-
serving, what must have occurred to others besides him-
self, " this business will cause a great mutation in the
public state of things."

When the violent rupture took place between Carlo-

•2-^8 BUGENHAGIUS.

stadt and Luther, the opinions of the former dififering
from the decision of the latter on the subject of the Real
Presence in the Eucharist, which Luther always main-
tained, and when the zeal of Carlostadt led him on to
acts of greater violence than Luther approved, Bugenha-
gius sided with Luther. On Luther's return to Wittem-
berg, he appointed Bugenhagius to be the pastor of
Wittemberg, and he presided over the Protestants there,
under Luther's protection and sanction, for six and thirty
years.

Bugenhagius was invited to Hamburgh in 1522, to draw
up doctrinal articles, and form a system for the government
of the Protestant congregation. He performed the same
services in 1530 for the Protestants at Lubeck. He
appears, indeed, to have been celebrated for his skill in
creating churches, for he was employed later in life in the
same way, in the dukedom of Brunswick, and in other
places. In 1537 he was sent for by the King of Denmark.
So early as 1521 a reforming spirit was encouraged in that
country by Christian or Christiern II, a monarch whose
" savage and infernal cruelty," to use the expression of
Mosheim, " rendered his name odious and his memory
execrable." He was anxious, nevertheless, to free his
dominions from the superstition and tyranny of Rome, to
have the Gospel preached according to Luther's exposition,
and to take possession for the good of the state of the
ecclesiastical property. He invited Carlostadt to Denmark,
and appointed him divinity professor at Hafnia : Carlostadt
accepted the appointment, but after a short stay in Den-
mark returned to Germany. Christiern II was deposed
in 1523, and Frederick, Duke of Holstein and Sleswic,
was placed upon the throne of Denmark. This prince en-
couraged the Lutheran preachers, but it remained for his
successor, Christiern III, to extirpate Romanism in his
dominions. He sent for Bugenhagius, who completely re-
modeled the Church, or rather converted it into a Pro-
testant sect. He set forth a book about the ordination of
ministers, formerly agreed upon by Luther and his col-

BULL. 229

leagues, to which he added some prayers, and a form or
directory for holy ministrations. About fourteen days
after the coronation of the King, Bugenhagius ordained
seven Protestant superintendents to supply the place of
the seven Bishops of Denmark, appointing them for the
time to come to act as Bishops, and to superintend the
ecclesiastical affairs. These persons, arrogating to himself
powers which he did not possess, he ordained in the
presence of the King and his council, in the chief
church in Hafnia. The assembly of the states at Odensee,
in the year 1539, gave a solemn sanction to all these
transactions.

In 1533 he had proceeded doctor, at the instance of
John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, who was present when
he performed his exercises.

The peace of his latter years was disturbed by the poli-
tical troubles of Germany, and the unfortunate disputes
amoDg the reformers, which he laid much to heart. He
died on the 20th of April, 1558. He wrote a commentary
on the Psalms ; Annotations on St. Pauls Epistles ; a
Harmony of the Gospels, &c. He also assisted Luther in
translating the Bible into German ; and used to keep the
day on which it was finished as a festival, calling it the
"Feast of the Translation." — Melchior Adam. Clark's
Marrow of Eccles. Hist. Mosheim. D'Auhigmj. Diqnn.

BULL, GEORGE.

This eminent divine of the Church of England,
who takes his place with Athanasius and Basil and
Gregory, and the illustrious Fathers of the Church, was
descended from an ancient family in Somersetshire,
and was born at Wells in that county, March 25th,
1634. His father dying when he was but four years old,
he was left with an estate of £200 a year, to the care
of guardians, by whom he was first placed at a grammar
school in Wells, and afterwards at the free school of

230 BULL.

Tiverton, in Devonshire : a school which still retains
its high character, and is considered one of the chief
schools in the West of England. The writer of this article
bears grateful testimony to the excellence of its discipline,
when under the direction of the Rev. George Richards,
one of a family of eminent schoolmasters. From Tiverton
George Bull removed to Exeter College, Oxford, where he
entered as a commoner on the 10th of July, 1648. Here,
says his biographer, he was placed under the care of Mr.
Baldwin Ackland, a man eminent for his learning and
piety, zealous for his Sovereign, when so many of his
subjects and friends forsook him, and true to the interest
of tlie Church in her most afflicted circumstances. But
although he was under the direction of so zealous and
orthodox a divine, it must not be concealed that Mr. Bull
lost much of the time he spent at the university, and he
frequently mentioned it himself with great sorrow and
regret ; though he did not, as is too usual, impute this
misfortune of his life to any remissness in the government
of the place, or to any negligence in his tutor, but to the
great rawness and inexperience of his age. For being
transplanted very young from the strict discipline of a
school to the enjoyment of manly liberty, before he had
consideration enough to make use of it to the best pur-
poses ; he was overpowered by that love of pleasure and
diversion, which so easily captivates youth when it is not
upon the guard. But as the freedoms he took were
chiefly childish follies, so when he prosecuted them with
the greatest earnestness, he still gave sufficient evidence of
an extraordinary genius ; and by the help of his logical
rules which he made himself master of with little labour,
and his close way of maintaining his argument, which was
natural to him, he quickly obtained the reputation of a
smart disputant, and as such was taken notice of by his
superiors.

Mr. Bull had not been admitted two years at Exeter
College before the Engagement was imposed upon the
nation by a pretended Act of Parliament, which passed in

BULL. 281

January 1649, The kingly office being abolished upon
the murder of King Charles the martyr, it was declared,
that for the time to come England should be governed as
a Commonwealth by Parliament ; that is to say, by that
handful of men who, by their art and power and villainy,
had by successful rebellion effected the revolution. And
that they might secure their new government, and have
some obligations of obedience for the future from their
subjects, who had broken all the former oaths they had
taken, as is observed by a noble author, this new oath
was prepared and established : the form of which was,
that every man should swear, " That he would be true
and faithful to the Commonwealth of England, as it was
then established, without a King or House of Lords."
Whosoever refused to take that Engagement, was to be
incapable of holding any place or office in Church or
State ; and they who had no employments to lose, were to
be deprived of the benefit of the law, and disabled from
suing in any court. There was great zeal shewn in seve-
ral places to procure this acknowledgment and submission
from the people to the new government ; particularly all
the members of the university were summoned to appear,
and solemnly to own the right and title of the Common-
wealth to their allegiance. Young George Bull appeared
• upon this occasion, and signalized himself by refusing to
take the oath. The several hypotheses which were started
to make men easy under a change of government directly
contrary to the constitution of the country, were insuffi-
cient to convince his honest and straightforward mind.
Neither the argument of providence, nor that of present
possession, nor that of the advantages of protection, which
were, as Mr. Nelson observes, all pleaded in those times,
were strong enough to influence the mind of one who was
determined to be constant in his duty to the Church and
the King.

He retired in January 1649, with his tutor Mr. Ackland,
to North Cadbury in Somersetshire. In this retreat,
which lasted till he was nineteen years of age, he had

232 BULL.

frequent conversation with one of his sisters, whose good
sense and great talents were directed by the most solid
piety. By her affectionate recommendation to her brother
of that religion which her own conduct so much adorned,
she won from, him every tincture of lightness and vanity,
and influenced him to a serious prosecution of his studies.
He now put himself, by the advice of his guardians, under
the care, and boarded in the house of Mr. William Thomas,
rector of Ubley, in Somersetshire, from whom, a Puritan,
he received little or no real improvement ; but the ac-
quaintance he made with his tutor's son Mr. Samuel
Thomas made some amends : this gentleman persuaded
Mr. Bull to read Hooker, Hammond, Taylor, and other
Christian writers with whose works he supplied him,
though at the hazard of his father's displeasure, who
never found any orthodox books in his study without
manifesting visible marks of his displeasure, and easily
guessing from what quarter they came, he would often
say, " My son will corrupt Mr. Bull." The deep piety of
his pupil made him entertain the wish of attaching him
to the Puritan party, to which the learning united with
the piety of Mr. Bull offered an effectual barrier.

The Church of England, says Mr. Nelson, which is,
and that justly, the glory of the Pteformation, was then
laid in the dust : she was ruined under a pretence of
being made more pure and more perfect. Episcopacy, a
divine institution, and therefore in no case to be deviated
from, was abolished as anti-Christian ; our admirable
Liturgy was laid aside as defiled with the corruptions
and innovations of Popery : and the revenues, which the
piety of our ancestors had established for the maintenance
of our spiritual fathers, were ravenously seized on by
sacrilegious hands, and alienated to support the usurpa-
tion. These discouraging circumstances did not damp
the zeal of this servant of God, but he engasjed in the
service of the Church when the arguments from flesh and
blood were least inviting. When men propose the glory
of God and the good of souls as the chief motive in the

BULL. 233

choice of their sacred profession, as they want not the
prospect of riches and grandeur to invite them to under-
take it, neither are they terrified with those difficuUies
that lie in the way of such an important service. The
pilot is then most necessary, w^hen the ship is exposed to
be driven on rocks and sands ; and not to shrink from the
exercise of his skill upon such occasions, distinguisheth
his courage and resolution, as well as his zeal, to save
those who are in the same bottom with himself.

Being unable, according to his principles, to officiate
without being duly called into the Lord's vineyard, he
applied for ordination to Dr. Skinner, Bishop of Oxford,
by whom he was ordained deacon and priest on the
same day. The Bishop, though he was willing to ordain
Mr. Bui], yet refused to give him, or any others, letters of
orders under his own hand and seal, for this prudential
reason ; because he was apprehensive some ill use might
be made of them, if they fell into the hands of those
unjust powers which then prevailed ; who had made it
criminal for a bishop to confer holy orders : but withal he
assured him, that when the ancient apostolical govern-
ment of the Church should be restored, which he did not
question but a little time would bring about, his letters
of orders should be sent him, in what part soever of the
nation he then lived, however it should please God to
dispose of his lordship ; which was accordingly punctually
complied with, upon the happy restoration of King Charles
the Second.

Being now invested with the sacerdotal powers, which
are the characteristic of a presbyter, he embraced the first
opportunity the providence of God offered for the exercis-
ing of them according to his commission. A small living
near Bristol, called St. George's, presenting itself, he the
rather accepted it, because the income was very incon-
siderable ; it being very likely, that upon that account he
would be suffered to reside without disturbance from the
men of those times, who would not think it worth their
pains to persecute and dispossess him for £30 a year.

VOL. III. X

234 BULL.

When lie settled at St. George's, he found the parish
to abound with quakers, and other wald sectaries, who
held very extravagant opinions, into which the people
there and in the adjacent parts were very ready to run;
hut by his constant preaching twice every Lord's-day, by
his sound doctrine and exemplary life, by his great chari-
ties, (for he expended more annually in relieving the poor
of all sorts than the whole income of his living amounted
to,) and by his prudent behaviour, he gained very much
upon the affections of his parishioners, and was very
instrumental in preserving many, and reclaiming others,
from those pernicious errors which then were common
among them.

A little occurrence soon after his coming to this living,
contributed greatly to establish his reputation as a preacher.
One Sunday, when he had begun his sermon, as he was turn-
ing over his bible to explain some texts of Scripture, which
he had quoted, his notes, which were written on several
small pieces of paper, flew out of his bible into the middle
of the Church : many of the congregation began to laugh,
concluding that their young preacher would be nonplussed
for want of materials ; but some of the more religious and
soberminded of the congregation, good naturedly gathered
up the scattered notes, and carried them to him in the
pulpit. Mr. Bull took them ; and perceiving that most of
the audience, consisting chiefly of sea-faring persons, were
rather inclined to triumph over him under that surprise,
he replaced them in his book, and shut it, and then, with-,
out referring any more to them, he went on with the
subject he had begun. Another time while he was preach-
ing, a quaker came into the church, and in the middle of
the sermon, cried out, " George, come down, thou art a false
prophet and an hireling;" whereupon the parishioners,
who loved their minister exceedingly, fell upon the
poor quaker with such fury, as obliged Mr. Bull to come
down out of the pulpit to quiet them, and to save him
from the effects of their resentment : getting in among
them, and warding off the blows that were falling very

BULL. -235

heavy upon the fellow, he said to them, '• Come, neigh-
bours, be not so violent against the poor man, but spare
him ; you do not know what spirit he is acted by ; you
cannot tell but that it may be phrenzy in him, or some
other distemper; and if so, the man is certainly an object
of your care ; however let me prevail upon you to forbear
and hurt him not ; but let me, good neighbours, a little
argue the matter coolly with him." He then addressed
the man, " Friend, thou dost call me a false prophet and
an hireling. Now as to thy first charge, prophecy doth
generally mean either preaching or interpreting God's
word, or else foretelling things to come ; and so a prophet
either true or false, is understood in Scripture. Where-
fore if thou dost mean that I am a prophet in the first of
these two senses, I readily acknowledge that I am so, and
a true one I also hope, forasmuch as in all sincerity and
truth, I have now for some time preached among this
good people what I could learn to be agreeable to the doc-
trine of Christ and His Apostles, not failing to interpret
to them the mind of God in the Scriptures, without any
other end, but to bring them to the knowledge of the
truth, and thereby to the attainment of life everlasting.
But, friend, if thou dost call me a prophet, and a false
prophet, from my foretelling things to come, I then appeal
to my parishioners here present, whether I ever once
pretended to this manner of prophecy, either in my ser-
mons or in my discourses with them : and so in this sense
I can be no false prophet, having never deceived any one
by pretences of this nature. And as to the other charge
against me, that I am an hireling, I appeal again to these
here present and that know me, whether they can say that
I have preached among them for the sake of gain or
filthy lucre, and whether 1 have not, on the contrary, been
ready on all occasions to serve and assist them to the ut-
most of my power, and to communicate as freely as I
receive." Upon which the people, being touched with a
sense of gratitude to this minister of God for his extra-
ordinary kindness and constant bounty towards them, but

236 BULL.

not mindful enough of that sacred regard which was due
to the place where they were met, and to the occasion
which brought them together, perceiving the silly enthu-
siast at a perfect nonplus, and not able to speak a word of
sense in his own defence, fell upon him a second time
with such violence, that had not Mr. Bull bustled very
much among them, and by great entreaties prevailed
upon them to spare him, and to lead and shut him out of
the church ; they would have worried him upon the spot.
After which Mr. Bull went up again into his pulpit, and
finished his sermon. What a picture is here presented
to us of those turbulent times ! His labours as a parish
priest were as judicious as they were great. As to the
younger sort of people, his custom was, says Nelson, *' to
address them in public as well as private, and therefore he
would pitch upon some week day to preach to them before
he administered the Holy Eucharist ; that such as had
not yet been admitted to that divine Ordinance, might be
thoroughly instructed in the nature and design of the
Christian Sacrifice, and might be taught what prepara-
tion was necessary to qualify them to appear at the Holy
Altar."

The rebels who had now usurped the government being
dissenters, they tyrannically prohibited the use of the
Liturgy under the threat of severe penalties ; nevertheless
Mr. Bull framed all his prayers out of it, after the exam-
ple of Bishop Sanderson; and those who railed at the
Liturgy as a lifeless form, admired Mr. Bull as one who
prayed by the Spirit I A special instance of this delusion
occurred once at the baptism of the child of a dissenter.
Mr. Bull had committed the whole of the baptismal ofiQce
to memory, which on this occasion he repeated with great
gravity, devotion, and fluency, to the delight and admir-
ation of the whole company. After the ordinance, the
father of the child returned Mr. Bull many thanks, and
praised extempore prayers intimating, at the same time,
with how much greater edification they prayed, who
entii;ely depended upon the Spirit of God for His assist-

BULL. 237

ance in their extempore effusions, than those did who tied
themselves up to pre-meditated forms : and that if he had
not made the sign of the Cross, that hadge of Popery, as
he called it, nobody could have formed the least objection
against his excellent prayers. Upon which Mr. Bull,
hoping to recover him from his ill-grounded prejudices,
shewed him the Office of Baptism in the Liturgy, whereni
w^as contained eveiy prayer which he had offered up to
God on that occasion ; which, with farther arguments that
he then urged, so effectually wrought upon the good man
and his w^hole family, that they always after that time
frequented the parish church, and never more absented
themselves from communion.

On the ;^Oth of May, 1658, Mr. Bull married Bridget,
the daughter of the Rev. Alexander Gregory, minister of
Cirencester. Their 's was not a mere civil contract, they
were joined together in holy matrimony by Mr. William
Master, vicar of Preston, according to the form prescribed
in the Book of Common Prayer ; the use of which, such
was the tyranny of the ruling powers, was then forbidden
under a great penalty. But as Mr. Bull had a particular
regard to our excellent Liturgy, in those times when it
was the fashion to despise it : so he had not a less esteem
for the constitution of the Church ; for in order to render
so serious an action, as matrimony is, still more solemn,
he pitched upon Ascension-day for the solemnizing of it,
which, in 1658, w^as the 20th of May.

In 1659 he was presented to the living of Suddington
St. Mary, near Cirencester. The Lady Pool, who at that
time lived at Cirencester, claimed the right of presenta-
tion, and gave the living to Mr. Bull, but he would have
been turned out of it, by neglecting to take out the broad
seal, liad not a gentleman of Cirencester, Mr. Stone, done
this without Mr. Bull's knowledge or privity. Mr. Bull
had become acquainted with his wife on some of his
periodical journeys to Oxford, for he made a point of
visiting the university in order to consult the libraries,
X 2

238 BULL.

every year, and he remained there two months, thus em-
ploying his lawful holiday as a parish priest It is indeed
gratifying to the parish priests of England, to be able to
state that the most learned divine of the English Church
was one of their number, for it was not till late in life
that Bull was preferred, and during the period of his
learned labours he was an indefatigable parish priest, a
working clergyman in every sense of the word, a model of
piety as well as of zeal. Such was the respect in which
he was held, that in 1659 his house was the rendezvous
of the gentlemen in that part of the country who were
engaged in the glorious work of the Restoration. The
parish of Suddington St. Mary was small, and the Bishop
of Gloucester, Dr. Nicholson, having his eye upon such a
distinguished parish priest, obtained for him the adjacent
vicarage of Suddington St. Peter, which was in the Lord
Chancellor s gift. The additional income was only £25
a-year, which scarcely covered the additional expenses,
especially when the almost boundless hospitality and
charity of Bull and his wife are taken into consideration,
but as the two parishes together contained only thirty
families, he was glad to obtain a more extensive sphere of
usefulness, and laboured, though in vain, to have them
consolidated. He continued to labour among the poor
and ignorant; his exertions among them were inces-
sant. Whenever he officiated at the Altar, it was, says
Mr. Nelson, " agreeably to the directions of the Rubric, and
with the gravity and seriousness of a primitive priest.
He preserved the custom of a collection for the poor, when
the priest begins the Offertory, which I the rather men-
tion, because it is too much neglected in country villages.
He always placed the elements of bread and wine upon
the altar himself, after he had received them either from
the churchwarden or clerk, or had taken them from some
convenient place, where they w^ere laid for that purpose.
His constant practice was to offer them upon the holy
table, in the first place, in conformity to the practice of

BULL. 239

the ancient Church, before he began the Communion
service ; and this the Rubric after the OiBfertory, seemeth
to require of all her priests, by declaring, ' When there is
a Communion, the priest shall then j^lace upon the table so
much bread and wine as he shall think sufficient.' " " It is
provided," continues Mr. Nelson, "in the Rubric after
the Nicene Creed on Sundays, ' The Curate shall declare
unto the people, what holy days or fasting days are in the
week following to he observed ;' and this direction is enforced
by the 64th Canon of the Ecclesiastical Constitutions,
made by the Convocation in 1603. Now Mr. Bull did
not satisfy himself only with giving this notice to his
parishioners, which he could not well omit without neg-
lecting his duty, but he led them to the observation of
such holy institutions by his own example. For he had
so far a regard to these holy-days, as to cause all his
family to repair to the church at such times ; and on the
days of fasting and abstinence, the necessary refreshments
of life were adjourned from the usual hour till towards
the evening. He was too well acquainted with the prac-
tice of the primitive Christians, to neglect such observ-
ances as they made instrumental to piety and devotion,
had too great a value for the injunctions of his mother, the
Church of England, to disobey where she required a com-
pliance ; but above all, he was too intent upon making
advances in the Christian life, to omit a duty all along
observed by devout men, and acceptable to God under the
Old and New Testament, both as it was helpful to their
devotion, and became a part of it."

While Mr. Bull was rector of Suddington, the provi-
dence of God gave him an opportunity of fixing two ladies
of quality, in that neighbourhood, in the Protestant com-
munion ; who had been reduced to a very wavering state
of mind, by the arts and subtleties of some Romish mis-
sionaries. Their specious pretences to antiquity were easily
detected by this great master of the ancient Fathers ; and
by his thorough acquaintance with Scripture, and the
sense of the Catholic Church, in matters of the greatest

240 BULL.

importance, he was able to distinguish between primitive
truths, and those errors which the Church of Rome built
upon them. He had frequent conferences with both these
ladies, and answered those objections which appeared to
them to have the greatest strength, and by which they
were very near falling from their stedfastness.

Mr. Nelson regrets the loss of the paper he drew up for
their instruction, but it was afterwards discovered and
published by the Bishop's son, Robert Bull, under the
title of "A Vindication of the Church of England."
What a divine so learned in primitive doctriue has said
in defence of our Church, is so valuable in these days,
that we are impelled to give the following extract from the
work, which is a challenge to the Romish controversialist.

" We proceed, in the next place, to the constant visi-
bility and succession of pastors in our Church, which he
challenge th your ladyship, as obliged by promise, to make
good. And here I make him this fair proposal : Let him,
or any one of his party, produce any one solid argument
to demonstrate such a succession of pastors in the Churc
of Rome, and I will undertake, by the very same argu-
ment, to prove a like succession in our Church. Indeed,
your ladyship will easily discern, that the author of the
letter is concerned, no less than we are, to acknowledge
such a succession of lawful pastors in our Church, till the
time of the Reformation; and if we cannot derive our
succession since, it is a hard case. But our records, faith-
fully kept and preserved, do evidence to all the world an
uninterrupted succession of Bishops in our Church,
canonically ordained, derived from such persons in whom
a lawful power of ordination was seated by the confession
of the Papists themselves. For the story of the Nag's
Head Ordination is so putid a fable, so often and so
clearly refuted by the writers of our Church, that the more
learned and ingenuous Papists are now ashamed to make
use of it.

"-His demand that we should shew a succession of
pastors in our Church, in all ages, holding and professing

BULL. 241

the thirtj-Dine Articles, is infinitely ridiculous, absurd,
and unreasonable : for we ourselves acknowledge, that the
pastors of our Church were, before the Reformation, in-
volved as well as others, in the errors and corruptions of
the Church of Rome, against which our thirty-nine
Articles are mainly directed; or else there had been no
need of Reformation. And let him, if he can, shew a con-
stant succession of pastors in the Church of Rome, always
professing the decrees of the council of Trent, in the
points of image-worship, invocation of saints, communion
in one kind, purgatory, indulgences, &c., and I will pro-
mise heart and hand to subscribe to that council. But it is
as clear as the light at noonday, that the decrees of that
council in those articles, are most contrary to the doctrine
of the Catholic Church (and so of the pastors of the
Church of Rome) in the first and best ages. As for our-
selves, that which we maintain is this, that our Church
and the pastors thereof, did always acknowledge the same
rule of faith, the same fundamental articles of the Chris-
tian religion, both before and since the Reformation ; but
with this difference, that we then professed the rule of
faith together with the additional coriTiptions of the
Church of Rome; but now (God be thanked) without
them. So that the change, as to matter of doctrine which
hath been in our church, and her pastors, is for the bet-
ter; like that of a man from being leprous becoming
sound and healthy, and yet always the same man. This a
learned prelate of our church solemnly proclaimed to all
the world in these words : ' Be it known to all the world,
that our church is only reformed or repaired, not made
new ; there is not one stone of a new foundation laid by
us ; yea, the old walls stand still, only the overcasting of
those ancient stones with the untempered mortar of new
inventions displeaseth us : plainly, set aside the cori-up-
tions, and the church is the same. And what are these
corruptions, but unsound adjections to the ancient struc-
ture of religion ? These we cannot but oppose, and there-
fore are unjustly and imperiously asserted. Hence it is

242 BULL.

that ours is by the opposite styled an ablative or nega-
tive religion; for so much as we join vith all true
Christians in all affirmative positions of ancient faith,
only standing upon the denial of some late and undue
additaments to the Christian belief.' Let the author of
the letter prove, that our church, since the Reformation,
bath departed from any one article of the common faith,
always received in the church of God, and more fully ex-
plained in the creeds of the first general councils, and he
will perform something to the purpose ; but till then all
his discourses of our change in point of doctrine will be
impertinent. And that he will never be able to prove
this, will appear afterwards.

'^ Indeed, the question is here the same with that
threadbare one which the Papists use to reiterate, when
they have nothing else to say for themselves. Where was
your Church before Luther? To which the answer is
easy : Our Church was then where it is now, even here in
England. She hath not changed one thing of what she
held before, any way partaining either to the being or
well-being of a Church ; only she hath made an alteration
in some things, which seemed to her (and so they will to
all indifferent judges) greatly prejudicial to both. She
still retains the same common rule of faith. She
still teacheth the necessity of a holy life, and presseth
good works as much as before ; only she is grown more
humble, and dares not ascribe any merit to them. She
still observes all the fundamental ordinances and institu-
tions of Christianity. She baptizeth, she feeds with the
holy Eucharist, she confirmeth. She retaineth the same
apostolical government of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.
And because she finds that a set form of Liturgy is used
by all Christian Churches in the world, without any
known beginning, she hath hers too, and that a grave,
solemn, aud excellently composed one, conformed, as near
as she could devise, to the pattern of the most ancient
offices. A Liturgy, for its innocence and purity, so be-
yond all just exceptions, that the Papists themselves,

BULL. 243

upon its first establishment, could not but embrace it.
xlnd therefore for several years they came to our Churches,
joined in our devotion, and communicated without
scruple, till at last (as an excellent person of our Church
rightly expresseth it) ' a temporal interest of the Church
of Rome rent the schism wider, and made it gape like the
jaws of the grave:' nay, it is transmitted to us (as the
same excellent author observes) by the testimony of per-
sons greater than all exception, that Paulus Quartus,
Pope of Piome, in his private intercourses and letters to
Queen Elizabeth, did offer to confirm and establish the
Common Prayer Book, if she would acknowledge the pri-
macy and authority, and the reformation derivative from
him. And this method was pursued by his successor
Pius Quartus, who assured her she should have any thing
from him, not only things pertaining to her soul, but what
might conduce to the establishment and confirmation of
her royal dignity ; amongst which, that the Liturgy, newly
established by her authority, should not be rescinded by
the Pope's power, was not the least considerable. I be-
seech your ladyship to make a little pause here. Our
Liturgy contains the whole religion of the Church of Eng-
land. This the popes and bishops of Rome themselves
offer to confirm and establish. Let me now ask this
question. Is our Liturgy in itself a good and safe way of
worshipping God, or not? If not, these popes were to
blame in offering to confirm it ; for no subsequent decree
of a pope could make that safe and good, which was not
so antecedently. If it were in itself good and safe, then it
is so still, though the Pope of Rome never confirmed it ;
and so the whole religion and reformation of the Church
of England is safe and good, by the plain confession of
the Pope himself, the infallible judge of the Roman
church. But let us proceed. As to the catholic customs,
our Church (so far is she from the love of innovation) pro-
fesseth all reverence and respect unto them. Upon this
score, she still observes all the great and sfncient festivals
of the Church with great solemnity, viz. the feasts of the

244 BULL.

nativity, circumcision, passion, resurrection, and ascen-
sion of our Saviour, the descent of the Holy Ghost, or the
feast of pentecost, &c. ; she still honours the memory of
the holy Apostles, saints, and martyrs, and hath days
wherein to express this, and to bless God for them, and
propound their virtues to the imitation of her sons. The
ancient fasts of the Church she hath not rejected ; and
therefore, because she finds a Lent, or solemn fast, before
the great festival of Easter, presently after the Apostles,
universally observed (though with a considerable variety,
as to the number of days, and the hours of abstinence on
those days) in the Church of God, she recommends the
same observation to her sons, in the full number of forty
days, to be kept as days of stricter temperance, and prayer
too, by all those whose health and other circumstances
will permit them to undertake it. She still observes the
fasts of the four seasons, or ember-weeks. She still recom-
mends the two weekly stations of the primitive Church to
the observation of her sons, Wednesday and Friday, dis-
tinguishing them from other days of the week by the more
solemn and penitential office of the Litany. And in the
table of the fasts to be observed, all Fridays in the year,
except Christmas-day, are expressly mentioned. I might
proceed to other instances ; but these are abundantly
sufficient to shew, that the Church of England in her
reformation effected no unnecessary change or innovation.
Indeed, she made no change or innovation, but of those
things that were themselves manifest changes and inno-
vations, yea, somewhat worse ; such as those above men-
tioned, image- worship, the worship and invocation of
saints and angels, the dry communion, the senseless and
unreasonable service of God in an unknown tongue,
enjoined the people, and not understood by them.
Wherein, as I have already shewn, every man's reason
and conscience will tell him, that the change is made for
the better. She hath also shaken off" (and it was high
time so to do, seeing that St. Augustine so long ago com-
plained of it) that intolerable yoke of ceremonies, ma ny of

BULL. '245

wliich were perfectly insignificant and ridiculous, some
directly sinful, and their number in the whole so great, as
to require that intention of mind, which ought to be em-
ployed about more weighty and important matters, yet
retaining still (to shew that she was not over nice and
scrupulous) some few ceremonies, that had on them the
stamp of venerable antiquity, or otherwise recommended
themselves by their decency and fitness. In a word, the
authors of our Reformation dealt with our Church as they
did with our temples or material churches. They did not
pull them down and raise new structures in their places,
no, nor so much as new consecrate the old ones ; but only
removed the objects and occasions of idolatrous worship,
at least out of the more open and conspicuous places,)
and took away some little superstitious trinkets, in other
things leaving them as they found them, and freely and
without scruple making use of them."

The only dissenters he had in this parish were quakers,
who resisted all the endeavours he made to bring them
into the church, for they were as obstinate as they were
ignorant : who, by their impertinent and extravagant
manner, caused him often no small uneasiness. And
of this number was one who was a preacher among
them, who would frequently accost Mr. Bull ; and once
more particularly said he, " George, as for human
learning I set no value upon it ; but if thou wilt
talk Scripture, have at thee." Upon which Mr. Bull,
willing to correct his confidence, and to shew him how
unable he was to support his pretensions, answered him,
" Come on then, friend." So opening the Bible, which
lay before them, he fell upon the Book of Proverbs;
*' Seest thou, friend," said he, " Solomon saith in one
place, 'Answer a fool according to his folly;' and in
another place, ' Answer not a fool according to his folly ;'
how dost thou reconcile these two texts of Scripture ?"
" Why," said the preacher, " Solomon don't say so ;" to
which Mr. Bull replied, "Aye, but he doth." And tum-

VOL. III. Y

216 BULL.

iDg to the places he soon convinced him ; upon which the
quaker hereat being much out of countenance, said, "Why
then Solomons a fool :" which ended the controversy.

He wrote several tracts, which have been lost, as he
never entertained, such was his modesty, a high value of
his own compositions. But in 1669 he published his first
great work, the Harmonia Apostolica. This involved him
in controversy, (See Life of Barlow and of Tully,) as, to
his surprise, he found that principles he had considered
peculiar to the sectaries had now found their way into the
Church. In 1675 he published his Examen Censurse, and
his Apologia pro Harmonia, in reply to Mr. Gataker and
Dr. Tully. The object of the Harmonia was, in refutation
of the pestilent heresies of the day, too prevalent among the
Puritans, to prove that good works, which proceed from
faith, and are conjoined with faith, are a necessary condi-
tion required of us by God, to the end that by the new
and evangelical covenant, obtained by and sealed in the
Blood of Christ the Mediator of it, we may be justified
according to His free and unmerited grace.

In 1678 he was preferred to a stall in Gloucester cathe-
dral, which, when he had a stall there, we may feel con-
fident, was in far better order than the Christian visiting
Gloucester now, finds it to be. In 1680 he finished his
Defensio Fidei Nicenae, of which he had given a hint five
years before in his Apologia. The greater part of the work
was completed when he was only a parish priest, and
can Dot be connected with any leisure that was offered him
by his prebendal residence, though when in residence,
being as conscientious, as a prebendary, as he had been as
a rector, he turned his leisure to good account, while his
soul was refreshed by the daily services of the Church. He
was not one of those who thought prayer a waste of time.
It will hardly be credited, that the work which, as a contri-
bution of theological learning, stands pre-eminent in our
Church, a work for which the Gallican clergy, opposed as
they^ were to Anglicanism in many respects, presented the

BULL. 247

author with their thanks, that this great work was nearly
lost to the world, because no bookseller would undertake its
publication, and Bull himself could not risk the expense.
He gave his manuscript, after it had lain by him for a
time, to Dr. Jane, Regius Professor of divinity in Oxford,
and the regius professor being an orthodox man, recom-
mended it to Bishop Fell. This great and good prelate,
being not a little glad to hear that the holy Catholic faith,
in the most fundamental point of it, was so learnedly
defended against some modern pretenders to antiquity, was
presently for eucouraging the printing of it, for a general
benefit ; nor had he need of solicitation, to print a book
of this nature at his own expense, which so highly tended,
as he was fully persuaded, to vindicate the honour of our
blessed Lord, and the veracity of His faithful witnesses in
the earliest ages of Christianity.

Thus, in the year 1685, there was published from the
Theatre in Oxford, the Bishop thereof taking upon him the
charge of the impression, this most noble Defence of the
Nicene Faith, out of the writings of the Catholic doctors, who
flourished within the three first centuries of the Christian
Church : wherein also the Constantinopolitan Confession,
concerning the Holy Ghost, is incidently confirmed by the
testimonies likewise of the ancients. For whereas in the
ancient creeds and formularies of faith, the Deity of the
Son is principally and more largely declared, but that of
the Holy Ghost is for the most part only hinted at, and in
a few words, the learned author made it his chief care in
this treatise, to defend tliat rather that this ; as consider-
ing, that if he could beget and confirm in his readers, the
tnie faith concerning the Son of God, they might with
ease then be brought to receive and continue in a right
confession, concerning the Siy'irit of God.

This work was received, as it deserved, with universal
applause, and its fame spread into foreign countries. In
1685 Mr. Bull was presented to the living of Avening,
having remained at Suddington for twenty-seven years.
The year following Archbishop Sancroft promoted him to

S48 BULL.

the archdeaconry of Landaff, which was his option, and
soon after the university of Oxford did itself the honour
to confer upon him the degi'ee of D.D. At Avening he
laboured with his usual diligence ; and when, during
the reign of James II., apprehensions af the increase
of Popery were far from groundless ; then it was that
Dr. Bull thought it his duty, chiefly to lay open the errors
of the Church of Rome, and he then took all opportunities,
both in his own parish, and in other public places where
he was called to preach, as at Bath and Gloucester, and in
a visitation sermon at Hampton, to convince the people
how much they would hazard their salvation, if ever they
suffered themselves, by sly arts and insinuations, to be
drawn into the Roman Communion ; wherein they had
made many additions to the primitive doctrines of Chris-
tianity, and had required their novelties to be received as
necessary articles of faith, though the Holy Scriptures
and primitive antiquity were silent concerning them, and
in some points expressly against them. These errors in
doctrine they aggi'avated by considerable cormptions in her
public offices ; which were not only in an unknown tongue,
and consequently no ways edifying to the people, but in
some parts were addressed to saints and angels, contrary
to Scripture, and the practice of the primitive Church.
It must be owned, that Dr. Bull was indeed a very frank
asserter of some primitive truths, upon which are built
several errors of the Church of Rome ; and the sermons,
which are printed, will furnish the reader with several
instances of this remark. Now among those who cannot,
or will not distinguish the foundation from the hay and
stubble that is built upon it, we must not wonder, if he
was thought too much inclining to the Church of Rome ;
w^hich unjust censure was confirmed by his exact confor-
mity to the rules of the Church of England, in a place
where the people were under great prejudices, both against
her discipline and Liturgy. But this calumny hath been
thrown upon the greatest lights of the Church, whereas,
as Mr. Nelson observes, " in the dav of trial the men of

BULL. 249

this character will be found the best defenders of the
Church of England, and the boldest champions against
the corruptions of the Church of Rome."

In 1694 appeared his next great work, the Judicium
Ecclesiae Catholicas, &c., the judgment of the Catholic
Church of the first three centuries concerning the neces-
sity of believing that our Lord Jesus Christ is very God,
asserted against Simon Episcopius and others.

Mr. Nelson, soon after the publication of this work, sent
it as a present to Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux. That pre-
late communicated it to several other French Bishops, the
result of which, was, that Mr. Nelson was desired, in a letter
from the Bishop of Meaux, not only to return Dr. Bull his
humble thanks, but the unfeigned congratulations also of
the whole clergy of France, then assembled at St. Ger-
mains, for the great service he had done to the Catholic
Church, in so well defending her determination, concerning
the necessity of believing the divinity of the Son of God.
In that letter the Bishop of Meaux expresses himself in
the following terms : " Dr. Bull's performance is admirable,
the matter he treats of could not be explained with greater
learning and judgment, but there is one thing I wonder
at, which is, that so great a man, who speaks so advantage-
ously of the Church, of salvation which is obtained only
in unity with her, and of the infallible assistance of the
Holy Ghost in the Council of Nice, which infers the same
assistance for all others assembled in the same Church,
can continue a moment without acknowledging her. Or,
let him tell me, sir, what he means by the term Catholic
Church ? Is it the Church of Rome, and those that adhere
to her ? Is it the Church of England ? Is it a confused
heap of societies, separated the one fi'om the other ? And
how can they be that kingdom of Christ, not divided
against itself, and which shall never perish ? It would be
a great satisfaction to me to receive some answer upon this
subject, that might explain the opinion of so weighty and
solid an author?' Dr. Bull answered the queries proposed
Y '2

250 BULL.

in this letter ; but just as his answer came to Mr. Nelson's
hands, the Bishop died. However, Dr. Bull's answer
was published, and a second edition printed at London,
1707, in 12mo, under the following title: "The corruptions
of the Church of Rome, in relation to ecclesiastical govern-
ment, the rule of faith, and form of divine worship : in
ansvr'er to the Bishop of Meaux's queries." (See Life of
Bossuet.) His last work was Primitiva apostolica traditio
dogmatis in ecclesia catholica recepti de Jesu Christi,
Servatoris nostri, divinitate, asserta atque evidenter demon-
strata contra Danielum Zuikerum Borussum ejusque
nuperos in Anglia sectatores. Which, with his other
Latin works, was printed in one volume in folio ; under
the care and inspection of Dr. John Ernest Grabe, the
author's age and infirmities disabling him from under-
taking this edition. The ingenious editor added many
learned annotations, and an excellent preface.

Dr. Bull was in his 71st year when his majesty's inten-
tion of recommending him to the chapter of St. David's,
that he might be elected Bishop of that see, was announced
to him. He received the intelligence with concern as
well as surprise. He declined the appointment. And
although at length he yielded, it was not till he had been
importuned by several of the Bishops themselves to under-
take what, to his conscientious mind, was an overpowering
burden. He looked upon their solicitation as the call of
a spiritual Providence, and felt that he might humbly
hope, that God, who had called him from the care of a
parish to the government of a diocese, would enable him,
by His Holy Spirit, to discharge the several duties which
belonged to it ; and that He who laid the burden upon
him, would strengthen him under it ; and it is certain,
that God proportioneth His gifts to the wants of those
who depend upon Him : and the distributions of grace are
larger, as His wise providence maketh them necessary.

However difficult, says Nelson, the employment might
prove to Dr. Bull, in the decline of his strength and

BULL. -251

vigour, it certainly concerned the honour of the nation,
not to suffer a person to die in an obscure retirement, who
upon the account of his learned performances, had shined
with so much lustre in a neighbouring nation, where he
had received the united thanks of her Bishops, for the
great service he had done to the cause of Christianity.
Accordingly he was consecrated Bishop of St. David's, in
Lambeth chapel, the 29th of April, 1705.

Bishop Bull took his seat in the House of Lords in a
most critical conjuncture, even that memorable session
when the bill for uniting the kingdoms of England and
Scotland passed for a law : a noble lord on the occasion
moved that as the parliament of Scotland had extolled
their presbyterian establishment, a clause should be moved
in which the Church of England might be spoken of in
the proper terms, for, said he, turning to the bench of
Bishops, " I have always been taught by my lords the
Bishops, from my youth, that the Church of England is
the best constituted Church in the world and most agree-
able to the Apostolical institution." Upon which. Bishop
Bull, who sate very near his lordship, apprehending how
upon such an appeal to the Bishops, it was necessary for
them to say something, stood up and said : "My lords, I
do second what that noble lord hath moved, and do think
it highly reasonable, that in this bill a character should
be given of our most excellent Church. For, my lords,
whosoever is skilled in primitive antiquity, must allow it
for a certain and evident truth, that the Church of Eng-
land is, in her doctrine, discipline, and worship, most
agreeable to the primitive and Apostolical institution."

The Bishop of St. David's coming out of the house,
Bishop Beveridge and another Bishop thanked his lord-
ship for his excellent speech ; and said Bishop Beveridge,
" My lord, if you and I had the penning of the bill, it
should be in the manner your lordship hath moved."
Upon which, Bishop Bull made such a reply, as repre-
sented the necessity he lay under of thus discharging his

25S BULL.

duty, when so solemnly called upon in the greatest court
of the nation.

He immediately repaired to his diocese, there to devote
to the service of his Master, the Great Bishop of Souls,
his remaining strength. He was received by the clergy
and gentry with every demonstration of respect ; the clergy
indeed are always happy to see a parish priest sent to
preside over them, for they know that he can sympathize
with them in their difficulties, and that his advice will be
practical, far different from that which heads of houses,
overburdened as heads of houses must often be, with clas-
sical, if not with theological learning, are capable of giving.
He resided at Brecknock where his charities were un-
bounded. His doors were always thronged with the poor
and needy ; and sixty poor were fed at his hospitable
board every Sunday.

He soon found, however, that he ought to have
persevered in his first determination not to accept the
bishopric. He was too infirm to make his visitation at
the end of three years. But he appointed a commission
to visit in his stead, and to read the charge which he had
prepared, very difi'erent from the dry compositions then in
vogue. He felt that as an experienced parish priest he
could advise working clergy how to act. He gave them
particular directions as to the saying of prayers, preaching,
catechizing, administering the Sacrament, and visiting the
sick, and as to their private devotions. As to catechising,
he hinted at the necessity and usefulness of it ; and
required the churchwardens to present the neglect of it,
that he might by his authority rectify it. As to the
administration of the holy Sacraments, he enjoined them
to perform Baptism in public, and chiefly on Sundays and
holy-days, when the assemblies of Christians are fullest ;
and in order to reform the abuses of that kind, he resolved
to exert his episcopal power. He exhorted to great
reverence and solemnity in officiating at the altar, and to
the observation of every punctilio, according to the Rubrics

BULL. 253

compiled for that purpose ; and especially to take care
not to administer the holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper
to persons known to be vicious and scandalous. As to
visiting the sick, the parochial priest is directed to go
without being sent for, when he hears any of his parishi-
oners are under the afflicting hand of God, and to perform
tlie duty, according to the rules prescribed by the Church ;
from whence also, he took occasion to press the parochial
clergy to acquaint themselves with their flock, when they
are in health, in order to promote the great end of their
own function, the salvation of souls.

His carefulness in administering holy orders was truly
exemplary, and he gave much sound advice to the candi-
dates themselves ; he pressed upon them especially the
necessity of ascertaining how far they could say conscien-
tiously, that they were inwardly called by the Holy Ghost
to their office. He advised and recommended the read-
ing of the Fathers of the Church next to the Holy
Scriptures, especially those of the first three centuries.
The deference the Bishop himself paid to the consentient
testimony of primitive writers, is apparent in all his
works. The following passage is from his discourse con-
cerning the state of man before the fall, in which, after he
had justified the concurrent interpretation of a text of
Scripture by the Catholic doctors, he speaks after this
manner ; " you will now, I presume, easily pardon this
large digression, being in itself not unuseful, and being
also necessary to remove a stone of ofience often cast in
the way of the reader, that converseth with the writings
of the ancient Fathers. Nay, moreover, I shall persuade
myself, that from this one instance, among many, you
will learn from henceforth, the modesty of submitting your
judgment to that of the Catholic doctors, where they are
found generally to concur in the interpretation of a text of
Scripture, how absurd soever that interpretation may at
first seem to be. For upon a diligent search you will find,
that aliquid latet quod non patet, there is a mystery in tlie
bottom, and that what at first view seemed verv ridiculous,

254 BULL.

will afterwards appear to be an important truth. Let
them therefore, who, reading the Fathers, are prone to
laugh at that in them which they do not presently under-
stand, seriously consider, quanto suo periculo idfaciant.''

Sometime before his last illness he entertained thoughts
of addressing to all his clergy, by way of a circular letter,
in order to recommend to their consideration, and press
upon their practice, some very important methods for
promoting virtue and piety in his diocese ; and after his
death, there was found among his papers a letter drawn
up to that purpose.

In this the first thing recommended, was the establish-
ing family devotion. The second thing recommended, is
erecting charity schools. The third thing recommended,
is a library of books of practical divinity for youth. The
fourth thing recommended, the Welsh Common Prayer
Book. The fifth thing recommended, was to procure the
laws to be put in execution against vice and immorality.

He was taken ill on the '27th of September, 1709. He
perceived his end approaching, and seeing the concourse
of his medical attendants, he thus addressed himself to
one of them : " Doctor, you need not be afraid to tell me
freely what your opinion of me is ; for I thank my good
God I am not afraid to die : it is what I have expected
long ago ; and I hope I am not unprepared for it now."
Repentance and mortification had been so much the
happy work of his strongest and healthful days, that when
death approached, he received the summons, not only with
resignation, but with some degree of satisfaction. He had
wisely made such a careful preparation for his last hours,
that he was now able to bear the thoughts and approaches
of his great change without amazement, he had overcome
that strong inclination of nature, whereby men usually
cleave so fast to life, by the wiser dictates of reason and
religion, which made him willing and contented to die
whenever God thought fit.

This sense of his approaching departure out of the
world, made him careful not to omit any thing that could

BULL. 255

now be done both for himself and family, for the better
securing their common interest and salvation. During
the time therefore of his confinement, he would often have
the family to prayers in his chamber at the usual hour ;
and the Prayers for the Sick in the Office of the Visitation
were added] upon those occasions, and sometimes the
Litany. The Prayers for the Sick were frequently repeated
during the whole time of his illness, at which he expressed
always great devotion. He would sometimes desire to receive
absolution in the Form used in the Communion Office,
which he thought came nearer to the precatory forms of
absolution mentioned in the Fathers than any other.
But it doth not appear, says Nelson, " that he hereby con-
demned the use of that form, which is, at least in some
cases, prescribed by our excellent Church in her office for
the Visitation of the Sick, or that he had any doubt con-
cerning the benefits of sacerdotal absolution, or of that
authority which is derived to the ministers or delegates of
Christ of forgiving the penitent their sins in ' His Name,'
since in his last acts of preparation for death, he earnestly
desired it and solemnly received it."

He made a general confession of his sins and a profes-
sion of his faith, very affecting and beautiful, before he
died, and he professed, that as he had always lived, so he
was now resolved to die, in the Communion of the Church
of England ; and declared, that he believed that it was
the best-constituted Church this day in the world ; for
that its doctrine, government, and way of worship, were,
in the main, the same with those of the primitive Church.
Here he put up some prayers for its peace and prosperity ;
and declaring again, that he was resolved to die in its
communion, he desired absolution, and received it as
before mentioned. And it is no wonder that on his death-
bed, the good Bishop professed such an high esteem for
the Church of England, since in the time of his health
and greatest vigour, he was used to express his zealous
concern for her after the following manner : "I would
not be so presumptuous as to say positively, that I am

556 BULL.

able to bear so great a trial ; but according to my sincere
thoughts of myself, I could, through God's assistance, lay
down my life, upon condition that all those who dissent
from the Church of England were united in her com-
munion."

The evening before he departed, his son-in-law, Mr. Arch-
deacon Stephens, arrived from a great jouraey, upon the
news he received of his dangerous illness. The Bishop
embraced him with great satisfaction, when he raised
himself up in his bed to give him his blessing. When
Mr. Stephens expressed his great sorrow and concern, to
find him in so great misery by the complaints he made,
he told him, " he had endured a great deal, that he did not
think he had so much strength of nature, but that now it
was near being spent, and that in God's good time he
should be delivered." And when Mr. Stephens, in order
to support him, urged that his reward would be great in
Heaven, the good Bishop replied, " My trust is in God,
through the merits of Christ." And being prevented from
enlarging, by the exquisiteness of his pains, he desired
Mr. Stephens to retire, and refresh him-elf after his jour-
ney. Some little time after this, he told those that were
about him, that he perceived he had some symptoms of
the near approach of death ; and ordered them to call the
doctor to him. And when he came, he told him he
thought he felt himself a dying ; to which the doctor
answered, that he could not say he would live many hours.
Upon this he sent for his wife and children, and the rest
of his family, and desired them to pray with him, and for
him. And when prayers were over, he took his solemn
leave of every one in particular ; giving each of them some
serious exhortation and advice. And this being done, he
gave them his benediction, and dismissed them.

He continued in this state longer than he expected, but
his devotions continued fervent and happy to the last ; he
recommended his soul into the hands of his Creator, in
several short but most excellent prayers, and repeated
most part of the seventy-first Psalm, so far as it suited his

BULL. 257

circumstances, than which nothing could be more proper,
to express his trust and dependance upon the power and
goodness of God, and the continual want he had of his
grace and assistance ; moreover, he ordered his chaplain
to use the commendatory prayer, when he perceived him
to be at the point of expiring, which was accordingly done
several times.

About nine in the morning his spirits began to sink,
and his speech to falter, and a few minutes after, without
any visible sign of pain or difficulty, with two gentle sighs,
he resigned his soul to God, the 17th of February, 17^ 9.
The last word he spoke was Amen, to the commendatory
prayer, which he repeated twice distinctly and audibly
after his usual manner, a very little while before he
died.

As to the devotional exercises of this great man in his
most active days, Mr. Nelson says, there is great reason to
believe that he was very frequent in his private prayers ;
and by his rising early, and going to bed late, he secured
retirement sufficient for that purpose. Besides, they w^ho
lay near his study, made discoveries of that nature, from
the warmth and fervour and importunity used in his
spiritual exercises, when he thought all the family safe
at rest ; and the way he took sometimes to express the
pious and devout affections of his mind by singing of
Psalms, made it more difficult to be concealed. It is true
indeed, that he has left no compositions of this kind
behind him, which make it reasonable to suppose, that
in his closet he gave the desires of his soul a freer vent,
and that when he conversed with God alone, he presented
Him with the natural language of the heart.

The constant frame and temj)er of his mind was so
truly devout, that he would frequently in the day-time, as
occasion offered, use short prayers and ejaculations, the
natural breathings of pious souls ; and when he was
sitting in silence in his family, and they, as he thought,
intent upon other matters, he would often, with an

VOL. III. z

258 BULLINGER.

inexpressible air of great seriousness, lift up his hands
and eyes to heaven, and sometimes drop tears. And as a
farther evidence of this true Christian frame of spirit, he
took great delight in discoursing of the things of God,
particularly of His love and mercy in the daily instances
of His watchful providence over mankind, and the right
use that ought to be made of it. He would often recount
to those he conversed with, the wonders of Divine good-
ness already vouchsafed to himself and his friends ; their
happy and amazing escapes out of several sorts of dangers,
their unexpected good success, not without rejoicing in
the Lord ; and invite others to tell what God had done for
them ; of which he would make a noble use by way of
relis[ious inference and exhortation, till he made the hearts
of his hearers burn within them.

His English works were published by Mr. Nelson, in
three vols, 1713 ; and his whole works, Latin and English,
were published at the Clarendon Press in 1827, under
the editorship of the late regius professor of divinity.
Dr. Burton.

All the materials for this article are taken from Nelsons
Life of Bull, our only aiitJiority. See the last volume of
the Oxford edition of Bulls Works.

BULLINGER, HEKEY.

Henry Bullinger was born at Bremgarten, a village
near Zurich, in Switzerland, July 18th, 1504. At the age
of twelve he was sent by his father to Emmeric, a town in
the duchy of Cleves. It was a good school at that time,
and Mosellanus was one of the masters. Here he remained
three years, during which time his father, to make him
feel for the distresses of others, and be more frugal and
modest in his dress, and more temperate in his diet,
withheld his customary pecuniary allowance ; so that
Bullinger was forced, according to the custom of those

BULLINGER. 259

times, to subsist on the alms he got by singing from door
to door. While here, he was strongly inclined to join the
Carthusians, but was dissuaded from it by an elder
brother. At fifteen years of age he was sent to Cologne,
where he studied logic, and commenced B.A. at sixteen
years old. He afterwards betook himself to the study of
divinity and canon law. To the school-divines he took a
boyish prejudice, so that, in 15'20, he wrote some dialogues
against them. The first two attacked the divines gener-
ally ; the two follo\ving contained an apology for Reuchlin;
the title of the fifth was Promotores. They were never
printed, and while they evinced the talent, they betrayed
more evidently the extreme presumption of the youth.
Whatever other faults may be attributed to the school
divines, metaphysical acumen, deep thought, and profound
learning, were pre-eminently theirs, and for a boy of
sixteen to attempt to refute them is only less absurd than
the conduct of a biographer such as Simler, who mentions
this as creditable to Buliinger. But his study of the
school divines had the effect of sending him to the
Fathers. He studied St. Chrysostom's homilies on
St. Matthew, with portions of the writings of St. Augustine,
Origen, and St. Ambrose. Observing that as the school-
men quoted the Fathers, so the Fathers quoted Scripture,
to the study of Scripture he betook himself, especially to
the study of the New Testament, with such assistauce as
St. Jerome and other commentators afforded. But not con-
tent with these studies, having now pronounced sentence
on the schoolmen, he thought of deciding for himself as to
certain other works which were much talked of, and he pro-
cured and clandestinely read Luther De Captivitate Baby-
lonica, and De Bonis Operibus. He was much delighted
also with Melancthon's Commcm-places. But though the
young man was favourable enough to any movement,
and could easily perceive, as most persons at that time
did, the necessity of a reformation, it does not appear that
these writings did more than unsettle his mind. He took
his M.A. degree in 152-2, and returning to his father,

060 BULLINGER.

remained there for a year, pursuing his studies privately.
Being called by the Abbot of La Chapelle, a Cistercian
abbey near Zurich, to teach in that place, he did so with
great reputation for four years. Many persons resorted to
his lectures, and to them he read the New Testament,
portions of Erasmus, and Melancthon's Common-places.
In 1527 he was sent by his abbot to Zurich, and there he
attended for five months the preaching and lectures of the
celebrated Zuinglius, while he perfected his knowledge of
Greek, and commenced the study of Hebrew. On his
return to La Chapelle he prevailed with the abbot and his
monks to adopt the reformation of Zuinglius, to which
they had been before inclined. In 1528 he went with
Zuinglius to the disputation at Berne. In the year
following he was made pastor of the reformed at Brem-
garten, his native place, and married Ann Adlischuiler, by
whom he had six sons and five daughters. His wife died of
the plague in 1564 ; and the fury for a marrying ministry
was at that time so great, amounting to absolute fanati-
cism, that he gave great offence by not marrying again.
It seemed to be an impeachment of his orthodoxy, and
his vindicators had to assure the public that he had no
doubt of the validity of second marriages. In vain did the
poor widower say that his first wife was living in his
heart, and in the children she had brought him ; in vain
did he assert that he had a daughter who governed his
family prudently, and that he was himself bowed down by
the weight of sixty years : the zealots for marriage, accord-
ing to Simler, " had recourse to secret reasons, which
might be the cause of his continuing a widower, even to
the prejudice of his health." When the feeling was so
fanatical on this point, we are not to be surprised at
finding some of the leading reformers favourable to the
introduction, in certain cases, of polygamy among the
laity. (See Life of Bucer.J Bullinger violated no vows by
his marriage, and as a family man was peculiarly happy.
He had many changes and chances to encounter before
he lost the wife, who lived in his heart to the last, and

BULLINGER 261

doubtless he found in her the comfort which in domestic
intercourse he so truly merited.

When he settled at Bremgarten he found some who car-
ried out his own principles to what he considered a vicious
extreme, and he had to refute the Anabaptists on the
principles they held in common : a difficult task, as they
naturally supposed their private judgment to be as good
as his. He wrote in defence of tithes, which they con-
tended should be abolished: he afterwards wrote six
books against the Anabaptists, in which he shewed their
origin and progress, and endeavoured to refute their
opinions.

On the victory of the Catholic cantons over the Re-
formed in 1531, Bullinger was obliged to leave his coun-
try, and he took refuge in Zurich. Zuinglius, the
reformer and pastor of Zurich, had died valiantly in the
field of battle, fighting against the Papists, not perhaps
the most appropriate place for the death of one who had
appointed himself to be a preacher of the Gospel of peace ;
and as a successor to Zuinglius, Bullinger was selected.
Zuinglius himself had mentioned him for his successor
if he should die in battle. It was the opinion of this
" reverend soldier, or gallant divine," as his enemies were
pleased to style him, that Luther's scheme of reformation
fell very short of the extent to which it ought to have been
carried. Under the impression we have mentioned, and
with a view, as he termed it, of restoring the Church to
its original purity, Zuinglius Sought to abolish many doc-
trines and rites of the Roman Catholic Church, which
Luther had retained. In some points of doctrine, he also
differed from Luther, and his opinion on the Real Presence
made a complete separation between them. Luther, as
we have already mentioned, held that, together with the
bread and wine, the Body and Blood of Christ were really
present in the Eucharist. Zuinglius held, that the bread
and wine were only signs and symbols of the absent Body
and Blood of Christ; so that the eucharistic rite was merely
z2

260 BULLINGER.

a pious and solemn ceremony, to bring it to the remem-
brance of the faithful. The opinions of Zuinglius were
adopted in Switzerland, and several neighbouring nations.
They gave rise to the most violent animosities between
their favourers, and the disciples of Luther. Frequent
advances to peace were made by the Zuinglians : Luther
uniformly rejected them with sternness. He declared an
union to be impossible : he called them " ministers of
Satan." When they entreated him to consider them as
brothers, " What fraternity," he exclaimed, " do you ask
with me, if you persist in your belief?" On one occasion,
the ingenuity of Bucer enabled him to frame a creed,
which each party, construing the words in his own sense,
might sign. This effected a temporary truce; but the
division soon broke out with fresh animosity. "Happy,"
exclaimed Luther, " is the man who has not been of the
council of the Sacramentarians ; who has not walked in
the ways of the Zuinglians."

Such was the party at the head of which BuUinger was
now placed, and as a party leader he conducted himseK
with prudence as well as skill. He was assailed on both
sides, he had in the first place to contend against Faber,
styled the Malleus Hoereticorum, that the truth of a reli-
gion is not to be decided by the good or bad success of a
battle ; and had then to exert himself against those who
proceeded from denying the Real Presence of our Lord in
the Eucharist, to the denial of His Divinity. The argu-
ments used by himself and his followers against the Pro-
testant doctrine of the Real Presence, seemed to tend, in
the private judgment of many, to scepticism, on the latter
most sacred and solemn subject. He not only wrote there-
fore a work on the two-fold nature of our Lord, but at a
meeting held at Basil, became anxious to accede to Bucer's
plan of union between the Lutherans and the Zuin-
glians. But if Bullinger was rather more inclined at this
period to yield, such was not the case with Luther. In
1542 Leo Judah's version of the Bible was finished, and

BULLINGER. 263

the printer sent a copy to Luther. Luther desired him
to send no more of the Tigurine minister's books ; for he
would have nothing to do with them, nor would he read
any of their works : for (said he) the Church of God can
hold no communion with them : and whereas they have
taken much pains, all is in vain; for themselves are
damned, and they lead many miserable men to hell with
them. Adding that he would have no communion with
their damnable and blasphemous doctrine, and that so
long as he lived, he would with his prayers and books
oppose them.

In the year 1544, Luther published his Annotations on
Genesis, in which he inveighed bitterly against the Sacra-
mentarians, (as he called them) saying, that Zuinglius,
CEcolampadius, and their disciples, were heretics, and
eternally damned. Melancthon would fain have hindered
the publication, but could not, whereupon he wrote to
Bullinger, telling him how much he was grieved at this
violent proceeding of Luther, which he knew was so plea-
sing to their common adversaries tlie Papists. When
this book of Luther's was published, there was much dis-
pute whether it should be answered : Bucer was against
it, because Luther was grown old, and had deserved
well of religion; but others thought that it would be a
betraying of the truth not to answer it : wherefore Bullin-
ger was appointed to that work, which he accordingly
performed with great judgment.

In 1546 Luther died, and the German war began be-
tween the Emperor and the Protestants ; at which time
many accused the Tigurines on account of Bullinger 's
book, as if they had insulted over Luther after his death,
and gloried that he died of grief because he could not
answer that book. Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, acquainted
Bullinger with these reports.

Bullinger replied by giving him thanks for his zeal in
endeavouring to effect the peace of the Church, and for
acquainting him with these rumours ; he then told him
how much he was grieved that some turbulent spirits

264 BULLINGER.

sought by such reports to bring an odium upon the Helve-
tians, and to aUenate the princes' affections from them :
whereas (saith he) it is not the manner of the Helvetian
divines to reproach any, either in their sermons or lec-
tures, much less Luther, who had deserved so well of
religion: and although Luther in the controversy about
the Sacrament had used much reproachful language
against them, yet they never made mention of him but
with honour. Whereas they were certainly informed that
many of the Saxon ministers used divers reproachful
speeches against them, calling them Sacramentarians,
Image-haters, Blasphemers, &c. Yea that in his own
university of Marpurg, Theobald Thammer in his public
lectures had greatly aspersed them ; wherefore he earnestly
requested him to consider their innocency, and to enjoin
silence to such intemperate sj)irits, &c. For (said he) we
cannot with Luther confess the bread to be the natural
Body of Christ, and that Judas, and other wicked men
received His Body as well as Peter and the saints, which
are Luther's own words. Yet we are ready to preserve
peace, so that it be not urged upon us to yield to those
things which neither ourselves can understand, nor can
we teach them to others. In all other things you shall
find us as peaceable men, ready to give an account of our
faith, whenever it shall be required of us.

The Landgrave was well satisfied with this answer,
being well inclined to the Helvetians, and to Bullinger
in particular, to whom (after the war was begun) he
often wrote, desiring also the Protestant cantons to
send some auxiliaries to them. But upon serious deli-
beration they denied this request: for (said they) if
we shall send you aid, the Popish cantons will also aid
the Emperor, which hitherto (moved by our example)
they have refused, though they have been earnestly soli-
cited both by the Pope and Emperor thereto. In the
meantime our ministers cease not daily to pray for the
peace of Germany, and we have had public fasts for
that end.

BULLINGER. 265

It is highly creditable to Bullinger and his followers
that when many of the Protestants on the publication of
the Interim in 1548, fled to Zurich, they gave them a
kind and hospitable reception, which was not, however,
returned with the gratitude which was expected.

In the midst of these controversies Bullinger was zea-
lous in exercising discipline among the preachers of his
communion, through synods, in establishing schools, and
in increasing the library at Zurich.

In 1549, he concurred with Calvin in drawing up a
formulary, expressing the conformity of belief which sub-
sisted between the Churches of Zurich and Geneva, and
intended, on the part of Calvin, to remove any suspicions
that he inclined to the opinion of Luther with respect to
the Eucharist, though Calvin's ^dews were less heretical
on the subject than those of Zuinglius. He also edited
the writings of Zuinglius, and gave his protection to the
French refugees, and to the English divines who fled
from the persecution raised in England by Queen Mary.
He likewise ably confuted the Pope's bull excommuni-
cating Queen Elizabeth. In 154G, he by his influence
hindered the Swiss from renewing their league with
Henry II. of France ; representing to them, that it was
neither just nor lawful for a man to consent to be hired to
shed another mans blood, from whom himself had never
received any injury. In 1551 he wrote a book, the pur-
port of which was to show, that the council of Trent had
no other design than to oppress the professors of sound
religion ; and, therefore, that the cantons should pay no
regard to the invitations of the Pope, which solicited them
to send deputies to that council. In 1561 he commenced
a controversy with Brentius, concerning the ubiquity of
the Body of Christ. This controversy lasted for a con-
siderable time. It was easy on Catholic principles to
refute Brentius who was an uncompromising ubiquitarian,
but on the subject of our Lord's presence, Bullinger was
not orthodox himself. To ascribe ubiquity to our Lord's
Body, as some of the Lutherans did, would be in effect to

266 BULLINGER.

confound the two natures of our Lord. But to contend
as Bullinger did, that our Lord being present in heaven
cannot also be present in many places upon earth also, is
to forget that the spiritual Body differs from the natural
Body, and to contradict our Blessed Lord's own most
gracious promises, that He, the God-Man, will be pre-
sent where two or three are gathered together in His
Name, and in the ministrations of the Apostles and their
successors.

It was a misfortune that so many of those who were
persecuted in the reign of Mary, sought refuge in Zurich,
as has been observed before, for they imbibed some of the
heretical principles of the Zuinglians. Some of these,
when they returned home, consulted Bullinger on the
subject of conformity, and Bullinger's advice was, that
although there is much of Popery in the Church of Eng-
land, these men had better conform to keep out the
Papists and Protestants, or followers of Luther. They
were to do a little evil that what he thought a greater evil
might be prevented. This perhaps is the reason why so
many dishonest men are still found in the Church of
England, men who actually deny the doctrine of regenera-
tion in Baptism. They have the feelings of Bullinger on
the policy of remaining, and while they declare in the
sight of God that they give their assent and consent to
every thing in the Prayer Book, venture even to preach
against a fundamental doctrine, with which almost every
other doctrine is directly or indirectly connected. In
writing to Robert Home, Bishop of Winchester, Bullinger
says: "As far as I can form an opinion, your common
adversaries are only aiming at this, that on your removal
they may put in your places either Papists, or else
Lutheran doctors and presidents, who are not very much
unlike them. Should this come to pass, not only will all
ecclesiastical order be disturbed, and the number of
most absurd ceremonies be increased, but even images
(which we know are defended by the Lutherans) will
be restored ; the artolatry, [or worshipping of the bread]

BULLINGER. 267

in the Lord's Supper will be reintroduced ; private abso-
lution, and after this, auricular confession will creep
in by degrees ; and an infinite number of other evils
will arise, which will both occasion confusion in gene-
ral, and also bring into danger many godly individuals.
For I doubt not but that you have met with so much
success in your ministry, as that you have very many
throughout the whole kingdom, both nobility, citizens,
husbandmen, men, in short, of every rank and class
in society, who are most favourably disposed to reli-
gion, and who abhor all doctrine that may open the
door to superstition and idolatry ; and who would feel it
intolerable that a tyranny should again be set up in the
Church, to burden the consciences of the unhappy people.
These, if you depart from the helm of the Church, will
most assuredly be subjected to the rage of their adversaries,
who will establish examinations and inquisitions against
them, as well public as private ; will accuse them of
heresy and sedition, and through them will render the
whole cause of religion suspected and hateful, both to hen
most Serene Majesty, and all the nobility of the realm.
We must therefore carefully guard against their wicked
artifices, lest we should yield to them of our own accord
what they have now for many years endeavoured to obtain
with much labour and diligence.

" But if any one should ask me whether I approve of
those who first enacted, or are now zealous maintainors of,
those laws by which the dregs of Popery are retained,
I candidly and freely answer that I do not approve of
them. For they are either acting too imprudently, if they
are on our side; or else they are treacherously laying
snares for the hberty of the Churches. But although
they have obtruded upon you these dregs, as if they were
necessary for the worship of God, for a safe conscience,
and the salvation of the soul, I should think that every
thing ought rather to be submitted to, than that you
should suffer a godly people to be led away by them from
a pure profession of faith."

268 BUNYAN.

The bitterness of Bullinger against the Protestants as
well as the Papists is here to be remarked. There is a
letter written by Bullinger to Lawrence Humphrey and
Thomas Sampson which is very creditable to him, on the
Vestiaiian controversy. It is too long to insert, but is
worthy of perusal in these days. Bullinger died on the
17th September, 1575. His funeral oration was pro-
nounced by John Stukius, and his life was written by
Josias Simler, (who had married one of his daughters,)
and was published at Zurich in 1575, 4to. His printed
works are very numerous, doctrinal, practical, and contro-
versial, and form ten volumes folio. — Vita a Simlero.
Melchior Adam. Clark's Medulla. Bayle. Butlers Con-
fessions. Zurich Letters.

BUNYAN, JOHN.

John Bunyan was bom at Elstow, in Bedfordshire, in
1628. He learnt to read and write, and followed his
father's business, which was that of a travelling tinker.
For some years he lead a dissolute life, but at length
he was converted, and began to study the Scriptures, in
which he acquired a great knowledge. In the civil war he
entered into the parliament army, and was present at the
siege of Leicester. About 1655 he became member of a
Baptist congregation at Bedford, to whom he occasionally
preached ; for which, at the Restoration, he was taken up
and confined in Bedford gaol twelve years and a half, sup-
porting himself and family all the while by tagging laces.
It was here that he wrote his Pilgrim's Progress, a reli-
gious allegory, which has gone through fifty editions, and
been translated into many languages. On his release from
prison, for which he was indebted to Bishop Barlow, of
Lincoln, he became teacher of the Baptist congregation at
Bedford. He also travelled into different parts of England
to visit the people of that persuasion, on which account he
was called Bishop Bunyan. He died in London of a fever

BURGES. 269

in 1688. His works, which have been often printed col-
lectively and in a separate form, make 2 vols, folio. —
Biog. Brit.

BURCHARD.

St. Buechaed was born in England at the close of the
seventh century. In 732, when St. Boniface was labour-
ing for the conversion of the Germans, St. Burchard se-
conded his exertions with so much zeal and success, that
his character and influence rose considerably, insomuch
that, when the nobles of France designed to depose
Childeric III., for the purpose of placing Pepin-le-Bref
upon the throne, St. Burchard was deputed to explain
and justify the measure before the pontiff, Gregory III. ;
a negotiation in which he was eminently successful; and
in consideration of his services, he was afterwards made
Bishop of Wurtzburg, by Pepin. He was the first prelate
of that see, being consecrated by St. Boniface himself. He
afterwards resigned his bishopric, and retired to Hoym-
burg with six fervent monks, where he died in 752. Out
of veneration for his sanctity King Pepin, in 752, declared
the Bishops of Wurtzburg dukes of Franconia, with all
civil jurisdiction. — Butler.

BURGES, OR BtlRGESS, CORNELIUS.

Cornelius Burges was educated at Oxford about the
year 1611, when he took his B. A. degree at Wadham
College. There is scarcely any public character of the
age of the great Rebellion, whose personal histoiy is more
instructive than that of Cornelius Burges. He was a man
of mature age when those civil strifes began, had learning
enough to make a handsome shew, and gained the fame
of an eloquent preacher. Nor had his merits been
VOL. in. 2 A

270 BURGES.

altogether overlooked ; for he was the incumbent of two
livings in the diocese of London, the vicarage of Watford
in Essex, and the rectory of St. Magnus in the city, and
he had the honour of being appointed one of the chaplains
in ordinary to Charles I. But he was one of those spirits,
in whom a cold avarice disguises itself under the outward
form of public zeal. Hence, having for some time courted
higher preferment by preaching and writing in defence of
obedience and conformity, and attacking in no measured
terms "the rabble of mad mar-prelates and bold-faced
mercenary empirics," who were so much admired by "silly
women and other ninnies," for speaking evil of dignities,
[in his ''Fire of the Sanctuary newly discovered.'" Land.
1625, p. 82, dc.'] — when the preferment did not come,
and the discontents increased, he suddenly changed his
tone and style, joined the assailants of Church-discipline,
and in a Latin sermon preached before the London clergy,
at St. Alphage's, in 1635, uttered such passages against
the Bishops and government of the Church, that, Bishop
Juxon having required a copy of his notes, and he having
refused to give it, he was summoned into the Court of
High Commission. [Laud. Troubles and Trial, p. 539.
Rymers Fwd. xx. 109.]

Here however, it is plain, even from his own uncandid
account, that he met with no extraordinary severity.
Having delivered up his sermon to Archbishop Laud, the
primate, " after perusal of it, never troubled him further."
[Burgess own " Case of buying Bishops' Lands.'' 1659.
p. 28.] He repaid this lenity by charging the whole
bench of Bishops, according to the approved mode of the
day, with Arminianism and Popery ; and compared the
court, before which he had been summoned, to the
Spanish Inquisition.

The eventful era of the assembling of the Long Parlia-
ment came on ; and Burgess merits had already raised
him to that bad eminence, which pointed him out for a
token of favour from the Low Churchmen who bore sway

BURGES. 271

in tliat conclave. He was chosen with Stephen Marshall
to preach on the solemn Fast-day, which the Commons
had proclaimed as the initiation of their darker mysteries.
His sermon, published by order of the house, spoke
significantly of the destruction of Babylon, " by an army
from the North," and how the restoring of the Church by
that deliverance produced a " solemn covenant" with
God. (Jer. 1. 3, 5.) whence he went on to argue, that
there would be " no buckliDg to God s work," till the
covenant was taken. He continued to be appointed to
preach occasionally before the same audience in the
following years of their session, and had a great hand in
promoting the convocation of the assembly of Divioes at
Westminster, among whom he sat, and took an active part
in their proceedings.

When the parliament wanted loans for putting down
the rebellion in Ireland, and afterwards for the war against
the King, Burges ventured a good part of his fortune on
the faith of his new masters, subscribing, as he says, at
various times about £1700. And now having gone too
far to recede, he gave himself up to serve the cause in those
ways in which a man of education, if he will stoop to
them, will seldom fail of obtaining a temporary influence.
When any motion was on foot for a treaty with the King,
he might be seen leading on the city mob to the doors of
Parliament, to intimidate the more moderate members,
and to take care that the violent ones should not be out-
voted. His vanity is reported to have betrayed him on
one occasion into a singular boast of his power over these
rough-handed followers : " These," he said, " are my ban-
dogs : I can set them on, and I can take them off again."
[Persecutio Undecima, IQiS, p. 62.]

But the service of rebellion is hard. When Dr. Hacket,
afterwards the excellent Bishop who restored Lichfield
Cathedral, had made his noble defence of cathedral insti-
tutions at the bar of the House of Commons, May 11th,
1641, Burges, who was employed to answer him, though
he said much of the unprofitableness of deans and canons,

272 BURGES.

and the bad lives of the song-men in the choir, had yet
agreed in asserting the Church's right to the property to
be inviolable. Time went on, and he had shrewdness
enough to perceive that the credit of such a government
as now occupied the ruins of the monarchy, though they
professed to pay eight per cent, was not a good basis of
security for his loan. By their ordinance of November 16,
1646, the Parliament had directed the sale of Bishops'
lands, — not however to satisfy their old creditors so much
as to obtain a new loan. They invited all who had before
lent money, plate, or other stores, for their use, to double
their former contributions, and take these lands in pay-
ment, " not without intimation," as Burges says, " that
such as doubled not, must expect no other security than
the then despised public faith, nor be paid, till all
Douhlers were satisfied." [Burgess Case, dc. p. 2.] There
was then this alternative proposed to him, to give up his
scruples as to the sacred character of the property, or to
trust his friends. No one could have had better opportu-
nities of knowing his men ; and perhaps it is no great
wonder that he chose to take the manor of Wells, and
blaspheme the memory of old King Cynewulf of Essex,
who gave it to God and St. Andrew, \ih. p. 20.] rather
than to wait till "the fag-end of the expired carcase,"
[Clarendons elegant periphrasis far a well known mono^
syllabic appellation of this ivonderful Parliament,] of the
British constitution should be re-inforced with a resolution
to repay the sums which they had spent.

This transaction, and another, which he effected about
the same period, procuring himself to be appointed special
Lecturer at St. Paul s, with a grant of the dean's house,
and a modest salary of £400 a year, were exposed in a
passsage of delicate irony by the quaint and honest
Thomas Fuller: it is in the conclusion of his History,
where he has been recording the debate between Hacket
and Burges, and how the latter had spoken of the inviola-
bility of cathedral lands :

" If since this time," he says, "Dr. Burges hath been

BURGES. 273

a large purchaser of such lands himself, — if, since,
St. Andrew the first-converted, and St. Paul the last-con-
verted, Apostle, have met in his purse, — I doubt not but
that he can give sufficient reason for the same, both to
himself and other that shall question him thereon ; the
rather because lately he read learned lectures in St. Paul's
on the criticisms of conscience, no less carefully than
curiously weighing satisfaction to scruples ; and if there
be a fault, so able a confessor knows how to get his abso-
lution." This passage, being noticed by Burges in his
' Case of buying Bishop's Lands,' occasioned an admirable
letter of Fuller's to him, which may be seen, with a good
note of the last editor, in Nichols's edition of Fuller's
Church History, vol. iii. Burges made a lame answer in
his * No Sacrilege nor Sin to alienate Cathedral Lands,'
p. 54, 5.

There is often found a litigious restless temper, accom-
panying ill-gotten gains; as the raven cannot swallow
its prey without a noise. Burges could find little
quiet in his new possessions. The corporation of Wells
and he were at once embroiled in a protracted lawsuit,
about some debateable ground, the undoubted property of
the Church, but now disputed, because part was pur-
chased by himself, and part by the town-council. Burges
gives a long detail of the arbitrations, trials, and judg-
ments, which his claim had to go through, with a wonder-
ful blindness to the fact how plainly the story tells against
himself. The courts of law under the Protectorate having
dexiided for the corporation, he had recourse to an autho-
rity, which probably might be found in those days
stronger than the law, the arbitration of the great Lord
Desborough, Cromwell's Major-General of Somerset and
other western counties. This mighty " clown, without
fear or wit," (as the pamphleteers describe him,) was not
unwilling to interpose ; but the parties not agreeing as to
the questions to be referred to him, that expedient also
failed. Things were still unbalanced, when Oliver died.
2 z ^

274 BURGES.

Richard Cromwell's Parliament met, and Burges proposed
his ' Case' to lay before them. He had evidently singular
hopes, like other Presbyterians, from the accession of the
young man, whom he complimented, as the Romans did
the Emperor Titus, with the title of " the darling of the
English people," (gentis Anglicanae deliciae.) Bradshawe
the regicide was then a great man again, being President
of Richard's Council ; and to him Burges sent a copy of
his pamphlet, " ex dono authoris." But in this nick of
time Bradshawe died, and the reign of Richard soon after
came to an end, while the suit was as far from being set-
tled as ever.

The name of this unhappy man had long since become
a proverb of reproach among more parties than one. He
was accused in the pasquils of the time with having taken
up the pavement of St. Paul's to flag his kitchen, with
having sold the timber- work and carved stones ; and hints
were given of other breaches of the moral law. [Lamenta-
tion of the hay Elders, 1647. Case for the City Spectacles,
1648, dc.'] Yet it would seem that virtue still struggled
within him, and at least held him back from consenting
to the bolder crimes of that troubled period. When the
Independents and Cromwell had determined on the King's
murder, though he had not the courage to put his name
to the ' Serious and Faithful Representation' presented by
the forty-seven Presbyterian ministers to General Fairfax,
[Collier, ii. 859, 60.] he afterwards drew up the 'Vindica-
tion of the Ministers of the Gospel in and about London,'
a more equivocal document, professing the same object,
but so worded as if to exculpate themselves, rather than
to save the King. It would seem that he also delivered
another testimony against King-killing, in a sermon enti'
tied 'Prudent Silence,' preached in Mercer's Chapel before
the Lord Mayor and City Council, on Jan. 14, 1649, from
the text Amos, v. 13. This sermon he now published,
when the Restoration was at hand, in 1660, and prefixed
to it a dedication to Charles the Second.

BURGES. 257

There was now, however, a nearer danger that beset
him, for which it was expedient, if he could, to remove the
suspicion of disloyalty. Things were evidently tending to
a re-estabhshment of episcopacy ; and a strong effort must
be made to prevent all that he had acquired from being
lost. To do him justice, though he was now become a
man in years, he set to work with an industry worthy of a
better cause. To maintain the temporal part of the ques-
tion, he drew up his ' No Sacrilege nor Sin to alienate or
purchase Cathedral Lands,' a more elaborate exposition of
the argument of his ' Case ;' but omitting all mention of
poor Pilchard, and the history of the law- suit. It is full of
learning, and not without that ingenious kind of logic,
which is sometimes employed to perplex a plain cause,
with all the special pleading of a self-interested advocate.
This pamphlet was no doubt busily circulated by those
subalterns of the rebellion, such as Sir Arthur Haselrigge
and Colonel Harvey, who had the same kind of property
at stake ; and three editions are said to have been called
for. Another pamphlet was however wanted to meet the
more spiritual peril which threatened him, in the proposed
restoration of the Prayer- Book, and all that its restoration
involved. Against this measure he now put forth his
'Reasons, shewing the necessity of Reformation of the
Public Doctrine, "Worship, Rites and Ceremonies, Church
Govermnent and Discipline, reputed to be, but indeed
not, estabhshed by Law.' This pamphlet was addressed
to the parliament which met after the King's return, and
purported in the title-page to be * by sundry Ministers in
divers Counties.' Baxter however states that it was the
work of Burges alone ; [Baxters Life., ii. 265.] and that
it was so is tolerably clear from internal evidence. A vein
of buffoonery pervades it to the injury of his argument ;
as is the case in other of his pamphlets. He declares
against all instrumental music in churches ; which is
consistent with what he had done in abolishing the
organ at St. Paul's ; he attacks the same opponents,
Dr. Heylin and Gauden, as he had done in his ' Case ;'

276 BUEGES.

and he shews the same superficial views of history and
antiquities, for which Fuller had before exposed him.

This pamphlet was in fact, as Baxter seems to have felt
it, very disadvantageous to the Presbyterian cause. Its
tone was so bitter and offensive, that it took away the
hope of peace between the two parties ; it was considered
disrespectful to the court, where schemes of reconciliation
were then favourably entertained ; and, what was perhaps
still worse for its credit, the portion of it, which had as-
sailed the doctrine of the Prayer-Book, was answered in a
grave convincing style by one of the best divines of the
episcopal side, Dr. John Pearson, the expositor of the
Creed, and afterwards Bishop of Chester. ['No Necessity
of Reformation of the Public Doctrine of the Church of
England,' Uo. 1660.] Burges attempted a reply in a
postscript to a third edition of his ' No Sacrilege;' but this
was immediately noticed in an ' Answer to Dr. Burges 's
Word by way of Postscript,' by Pearson ; and the contro-
versy went no further.

No doubt the time was past, when the English people
could be deceived by those pretences, which had led to
confusion alike of Church and state. The restitution of
the Church's spoils was no longer to be delayed by men,
who had too long covered under a shew of public zeal
their singular kindness to themselves. The purchasers of
Bishop's lands, by Burges' advice as it was supposed, put
forth an anonymous paper, proposing to pay £500,000 to
the I^ng, if they might have their illegal bargain con-
firmed for ninety-nine years by the legislature ; but, this
bribe being rejected, there was no remedy but to give up
what could no longer be retained. Burges appears to
have saved nothing from so many years' tenure of the
property, which he had so sacrilegiously invaded. Having
lost all, he retired in poverty and shame to die at Watford,
the scene of his early pastoral labours, while he was yet
unseduced by low ambition. It may be hoped that even
these days of bitter privation were better for him, than the
years of dangerous prosperity, in which his vanity and

BURGESS. 277

self-love had robbed him of all peace. For it can scarcely
be doubted, that all that time he was stifling the stings
of conscience, and his mind approved the virtue he
forsook :

And oh, how sharp the pain,
Our vice, ourselves, our hahits to disdain ;
To go where never yet in peace we went.
To feel our hearts can bleed, yet not relent ;
To sigh, yet not recede ; to grieve, yet not repent !

His latter davs were past, it is said, in exercises of
penitence, and in observing the duties of the Church.
But his sufferings were extreme. His neck and one
cheek were eaten away with a cancer ; and, after having
sold his books to buy bread, he was again in want. He
applied to Sir Pdchard Browne, a rich citizen in London,
acquainting him with his condition ; but obtained a
scornful answer, reminding him of his old preaching of
rebellion, and a scanty donation of three pounds. He
died, unnoticed and deserted, in June, 1G65. About
three months before his death he sent a humble and duti-
ful message to the university of Oxford, with a collection
of some scarce editions of the Prayer-Book, begging his
honourable mother of Oxford to accept of them from a
dying man, ' as our Lord and blessed Saviour did of the
poor ^vidow's two mites, who, by casting in that, cast in all
she had." — Dr. Isaac Basires Sacrilege Arraigned. Wood's
Athence Oxonienses.

BUEGESS, DANIEL.

Dan'iel Buegess was born at Staines, in 1645. He
received his education at Westminster-school, from whence
he went to Magdalen Hall, Oxford, but having imbibed
puritanical principles, he left the university without a
degree. In 1667 he became master of a school at
Charleville in Ireland, after which he was ordained in the

278 BURKITT.

Presbyterian way at Dublin, and married. x\t the end of
seven years he returned to England, and in 1685 settled
in London, as preacher to a congregation in Brydges-
street, Covent-garden, from whence he removed to a
meeting in Carey-street, which, being pulled down by
Dr. Sacheverell's mob, was rebuilt at the expense of
government. Daniel died in 1713. The celebrated Lord
Bolingbroke was once his pupil, and acquired his disgust
of Christianity from what he witnessed of the morality
of puritanism. His humour in the pulpit was of the
lowest cast of buffoonery, but it had the effect of drawing
crowds of hearers. The following is a specimen of his
preaching on the imputation of Christ's righteousness,
" If any of you," said he, " would have a good and cheap
suit, you will go to Monmouth-street ; if you want a suit
that will last for life, you must go to the Court of Chan-
cery ; but if you wish for a suit of everlasting duration,
you must go to the Lord Jesus, and put on his robe of
righteousness." He published some single sermons, one
of which was entitled "The Golden Snuffers." — Gen.
Biog. Diet.

BUKKITT, WILLIA^r.

WiLLiAisr BuRKiTT was born at Hitcham, in Suffolk, in
1650. His father was a Nonconformist minister. He was
sent first to a school at Stow Market, and from thence to
another at Cambridge. He was admitted of Pembroke
Hall, at the age of fourteen years, and upon his removal
from the University, when he had taken his degree, he be-
came a chaplain in a private gentleman's family, where he
continued for several years. He was ordained by Bishop
Pteynolds, and the first clerical duty which he had was at
Milden, in Suffolk, where he continued for twenty- one
years, first as curate, and afterwards as rector of that
parish. In 1692 he was presented to the vicarage of
Dedham, in Essex, where he continued to the time of
his death, which happened in the latter end of October,

BUEN. 279

1703. He made liberal collections for the FreDch Pro-
testants in the years 1687, &c., and by his influence pro-
cured a minister to go and settle in Carolina. Among
other charities, he bequeathed by his last will and testa-
ment the house in which he lived, with the lands belonging
to it, to be a residence for the lecturer that should be
chosen from time to time to preach the lecture at
Dedham. He wrote several small tracts, and published
a commentary on the New Testament, which has been
popular. — Life by Parkhurst.

BUKN, EICHAP.D.

Richard Burn was born at Kirby Stephen, near
Winton, in Westmoreland, He entered at Queen's College,
Oxford, and received from that University, in 1762, the
honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. The following year
he entered into holy orders, and was appointed to the
living of Orton, in Westmoreland. He also held the
commission of the peace for Westmoreland and Cumber-
land, and was chancellor of the diocese of Carlisle. As
compiler of the Justice of the Peace, he is well known, and
he has earned for himself equal celebrity by a similar
digest of the Ecclesiastical Law. The first of these is an
alphabetical arrangement of the common law and statutes,
pointing out the duties of magistrates and parish officers ;
and the second comprehends the English system of eccle-
siastical law, arranged in the same manner. They deserv-
edly gained a high reputation as works of great practical
utility. In conjunction with Mr. Nicholson, nephew of
the Bishop of Carlisle, Dr. Bum compiled a history of the
antiquities of Cumberland and Westmoreland, published
in 1777, in 2 vols, 4to. He also published an edition of
"Blackstone's Commentaries," and some theological works.
Dr. Burn enjoyed the rectorship of Orton for forty-nine
years, where he died, 20th Novenber, 1789. — History of
Westmoreland. Bridgmans Legal Bibliography.

'280 BURNET.

BUENET, ALEXANDER.

Alexander Burnet was the son of the Eev. John
Burnet, a parochial minister, and one of the respectable
family of Bams, in the county of Peebles : his mother was
a daughter of the family of Traquair. He was born in
the year 1614, and was first appointed chaplain to the Earl
of Traquair, but on the breaking out of the rebellion, he
retired into England, where he received holy orders, and
was presented to a rectory in Kent, from which he was
ejected on account of his loyalty, in the year 1650. After
this he went abroad, and was of considerable service to
Charles II, in procuring intelligence from his friends in
England and Scotland. At the Restoration he became
chaplain to the Earl of Teviot, his cousin, who was ap-
pointed governor of Dunkirk, whither Burnet accompanied
him, and where he officiated in an English congregation.
He was consecrated to the see of Aberdeen in 1663, and
in the following year was translated to the archbishopric
of Glasgow. Here he was brought into trouble, but under
circumstances most creditable to himself. He incurred
the displeasure of the Earl of Lauderdale, whom no one
ever offended with impunity. This nobleman was pro-
fessedly a Presbyterian, and almost as great an enemy to
the Episcopalians as he was to the Covenanters. It has
even been alleged, and with some appearance of truth,
that one of the reasons of his extreme cruelty to the lat-
ter, was to excite popular odium against the former. If
such were his object, he certainly succeeded. His speech
to Sharp, when he learnt he was to be made Archbishop
of St. Andrews, is well known. " Mr. Sharp," he said,
" bishops you are to have in Scotland, and you, I hear,
are to be Archbishop of St. Andrews ; but, whoever shall
be the man, I will smite him and his order under the
fifth rib." And he was as good as his word.

Burnet had complained to the King of Lauderdale's un-
necessary severity to the Covenanters, and recommended

BUKNET. 281

more lenient measures. The King, who was naturally
good-natured, approved of this recommendation, and
gave the Earl instructions to proceed in conformity
with it. For this interference on the part of the Arch-
bishop, and with a view to gratify his spleen against him,
he determined to make the whole Episcopal order feel the
weight of his vengeance, and to stab them "under the
fifth rib." Accordingly, he introduced into parliament,
in the year 1669, the famous act of Indulgence, the mean-
ing of which was, that ministers dissenting from the
established church might be permitted to hold benefices
in it, without, in any respect, acknowledging the jurisdic-
tion of its Bishops. In short, like the Roman Catholic
doctrine which passes under that name, it gave a license
to practise every kind of ecclesiastical irregularity without
any fear of suffe.ing. Such a system, it was apparent, no
established church could approve, under any circum-
stances : yet Lauderdale had the address to persuade both
the King and the Parliament, that it was necessary for
the tranquillity of the kingdom. The more violent Co-
venanters repudiated the notion of accepting any religious
favour whatever from Charles's government ; and railed
very bitterly against those who took the Indulgence, even
on terms where all the advantage lay with themselves,
and all the disadvantage with their opponents ; but a con-
siderable number of the more moderate Presbyterians
availed themselves of it ; and, among others, Mr. Robert
Douglas, who had, since the Restoration, joined the Epis-
copal church, in obedience to the laws, as a private indi-
vidual, but was now admitted as Presbyterian minister of
the parish of Pencaithland.

Burnet, and the clergy of his diocese, took the lead in
their opposition to this mischievous measure ; which was
so far from being a healing one, as it professed to be, that
it split the established church into two hostile parties,
and made the minority independent of the majority. This
opposition to his own act so provoked Lauderdale, that he

VOL. III. 2 B

r2B2 BURNET.

brought into parliament, and carried, a still more offensive
and oppressive one, namely, the Assertory Act, which con-
ferred on the King the exclusive power to change, at his
pleasure, " the external government and polity of the
(Jhurch" in Scotland. The whole of the Bishops united
in strenuous opposition to this measure, which, however,
did not prevent the King from so far acting upon it, as,
at the instigation of Lauderdale, to suspend Archbishop
Burnet, and place Leighton Bishop of Dunblane in his
room. This most obnoxious bill was repealed, after it had
been in operation two years ; but not before several of the
Bishops and clergy had suffered by their conscientious
refusal to comply with it. Burnet was not restored to his
archbishopric till the year 1674. Wodrow, for this con-
duct on the part of Burnet, accuses him, first, of acting
contrary to his ''passive obedience" principles, and then
of tamely submitting to the royal sentence of ecclesiastical
deprivation. It is very difficult to make writers of that
school comprehend the simple scriptural, though un-
fashionable and unpalatable, doctrine of what is called
(improperly, perhaps,) " passive obedience." Burnet, on
this occasion, acted in strict conformity with it ; that is,
he dutifully obeyed the lawful commands of his Sove-
reign, and he patiently suffered for disobeying his unlaw-
ful ones. The Presbyterians of that age did neither one
nor the other. So far from dutifully obeying all lawful
commands, they would not obey even the most indifferent,
if unsuited to their taste : and so far from patiently suf-
fering for their disobedience to unlawful commands, (or
those which they considered to be so,) that they took up
arms to force the government to rescind them.

On the murder of Archbishop Sharp in 1679, he was
translated to the see of St. Andrews.

Archbishop Burnet died on the 24th of August, 1684,
and was buried in St. Salvator's church. — KeitJis Scottish
Bishops. Lyon's History of St. Andrews.

BURNET. ^483

BURNET, GILBERT.

Gilbert Burnet was bom at Edinburgh on the ] 8th of
September, 1643. His father was a lawyer, whom many
agreed to praise and few to employ : he was at first opposed
to the Scottish Bishops, but when he saw that the destruc-
tion of the episcopal order was what those designed who
spoke of its reformation, he adhered to the order with
zeal and constancy. His mother was a sister of Sir Archi-
bald Warriston, and a bigoted Presbyteiian. Of her Presby-
terian spirit an account is given when Burnet was on one
occasion seized with a fever at Saltoun where she resided
with him ; in the ravings of his distemper he thought that
Archbishop Sharp was to sleep at his house, and testified
anxiety about a proper place for his reception. Upon this
his Presbyterian mother desired him to make himself
quite easy, for that a place should be provided for the

Archbishop in the hottest corner of hell. How dreadful

is such want of charity in a person who thought herself
decidedly pious. Such was the parentage of Gilbert
Burnet, and the kind of religious education he received
from such parents may be easily surmised. He grew up an
earnest minded, honest hearted man, disinterested, liberal
and learned : but he was an egotist who, conscious of his
own rectitude of intention, could not believe any person to
be honest who thought not or acted not as he did himself,
who hated with an ungenerous hatred all who opposed
him, who, looking upon himself as an angel, expected to
see the cloven foot in every opponent : and who, as such
egotists frequently do, so entirely identified himself with a
party, that he felt a personal disgust for every one who
either wronged that party or deserted it, or advocated prin-
ciples not acknowledged by it. Never did man so com-
pletely identify himself with his party ; he did indeed
sacrifice for it so much, that he would have become enti-
tled to the character of generous, had not his conduct
towards those who opposed his party been ungenerous in
the extreme, though even then, when their sufferings be-

284 BURNET.

came personally known to him, the generosity of his
nature would sometimes display itself.

To give an account of such a person would be at all
times difficult, but it is rendered the more difficult from
the fact that he is himself our only authority, either in the
History he wrote of his Own Times, which is an eulogy of
himself and a satire upon those who differed from him,
or in the Memoirs of his Life, written by his son Sir
Thomas Burnet, almost, we may conclude, from his father's
dictation.

Burnet's father, having suffered some persecution dur-
ing the rebellion, lived retired in the country on his own
estate till the Restoration, when he was made one of the
Lords of Session. His father superintended his education,
and afterwards sent him to King's College, Aberdeen,
where he took his degree of M.A. at the early age of four-
teen. He commenced the study of civil law, but feeling a
distaste for it, he had recourse to the study of divinity.
At the age of eighteen he was put on trial as a proba-
tioner, which was at that time the first step towards ordi-
nation in the Episcopal church. Probationers were then
appointed to preach practically on an assigned text ; next,
critically on another controverted one ; and then a mixed
sermon of criticism and practical inferences from a given
text. Then followed an examination in the languages;
and lastly, the " questionary trial," in which every minister
present might put such questions, from Scripture or
divinity, as he pleased. He declined the offer of a
church, and prosecuted his studies under the direction of
Mr. Nairn.

Of Mr. Nairn he learnt the art of preaching extempore :
this was not the custom of the Presbyterians, whose ser-
mons, though they were delivered without book, were pre-
meditated discourses, first written, and then learned by
heart, — a sheer waste of time. The power of preaching
extempore was retained by Burnet through life. He studied
under Mr. Nairn, Smith's select discourses, Dr. More's
works, and the judicious Hooker. With Archbishop

BURNET. S86

Leighton, Burnet also formed an acquaintance, and by his
advice studied the primitive fathers, especially those of the
three first centuries, and Binnius's collection of councils,
down to the second council of Nice.

In 1663 he visited England, and went to Oxford and
Cambridge. From Oxford, where he contracted a friend-
ship with Drs. Fell and Pocock, he went to London, and
was introduced to Mr. Boyle, Tillotson, Stillingfleet,
Patrick, Lloyd, and Sir Robert Murray. In 1664 he
returned to Scotland, whence he went to Holland ; and,
passing through the Netherlands to France, made some
stay at Paris. In 1665 he returned to Scotland through
London, and was there made a member of the Royal
Society. On his return, in 1665, he was ordained a
priest by Dr. Wiseheart, then Bishop of Edinburgh, and
presented to the parish of Saltoun, by Sir Robert Fletcher.
Although extempore worship was then practised, Burnet
used the English Liturgy all the time he held the living
of Saltoun, where he seems, according to his own account,
to have been very diligent in the duties of his profession,
and to have gained the respect of his parishioners. He
had scarcely entered upon his parochial duties, when he
published a most malicious libel upon the Scottish Bishops,
which he confuted afterwards in his life of Bishop Bedell,
and which we must therefore ascribe to some mortifica-
tion that he had experienced. He was summoned before
the bench, and severely reprimanded; which may, per-
haps, account for the severity of his strictures in the His-
tory of his Own Times. The libeller who, by the account
given by himself, was as insolent to the Bishops as he well
could be, w^as soon takea into favour by the enemies open
or concealed of episcopacy ; and young as he was, in 1668,
Burnet seems to have been consulted by the government,
especially by his friend, Sir Robert Murray, then president
of the court of session ; and it is suspected that he advised
the Indulgence and the introduction of the moderate Pres-
byterians into vacant livings, without requiring them to

286 BURNET.

submit to the jurisdiction of the Bishop. (See tJie last arti-
cle on Archhisliop Burnet.) All this part of Burnet's life is
necessarily involved in obscurity : it is obvious that he be-
haved extremely ill, and he was not the person to condemn
himself. Nevertheless, the regularity of his life, his learn-
ing, and his talents, commended him to those who were
not unwilling to hear the clergy censured, even though
unjustly, and to an unprincipled government willing to
employ a young man who would do their work, but whom
they might, whenever it was convenient, repudiate. In
1669 he was invited to visit the Duchess of Hamilton, who,
" though her inclinations lay to presbytery, professed her-
self a friend to moderate counsels," and at her house he
met the Regent of the University at Glasgow, and through
him he obtained the professorship of divinity in that uni-
versity. Bumet represents himself as in doubt whether
to accept the office of the divinity chair or to remain at
Saltoun, but the professorship was a situation so much in
accordance with his tastes and pursuits that he was doubt-
less very easily persuaded to enter upon its duties. That
he gave great dissatisfaction is clear from his own account,
and not to be wondered at when we take into considera-
tion that to an overbearing temper, and an offensive self-
sufficiency, he added, according to Lord Dartmouth, " a
boisterous vehement manner of expressing himself." But
Burnet could never admit that he was in the wrong, and
attributed his failure to those principles of moderation on
which he professed to act, and by which he equally of-
ended the Episcopal and the Presbyterian party. But
here, as elsewhere, what he did he did with all his might,
and if his conduct was not judicious, it was at least ener-
getic. Here he remained for four years and a half. In
1669 he published his Modest and Free Conference
between a Conformist and a Non- Conformist, in seven
dialogues, with which all men who were in earnest, either
Episcopalians or Presbyterians, were justly offended, but
which gave satisfaction to those whom Burnet desired to

BURNET. 287

please, the men who cared for none of these things. It
ought to be observed here that Burnet's inclinations were
all along decidedly in favour of episcopacy and the liturgy,
and one cause of his hatred to the Scottish Bishops and
clergy was their not permitting him to defend them in
his own way, yielding when he desired them to yield,
and conforming to what he considered the proper line of
conduct. He regarded them as fools, and worse than fooJs,
because when he wished to put himself forward as their
leader, they w^ould not accept him, and because when he
talked of moderation they supposed him to speak of a
dereliction of principle.

During his residence in Glasgow he was entrusted with
the papers belonging to the Hamilton family, from which
he compiled the memoirs of that house ; and afterwards
meditated a reconciliation between the Dukes of Hamilton
and Lauderdale. The Earl of Lauderdale, whom he
vtsited in London, could have pushed his fortunes, had
Burnet consented to be one of his followers, but Burnet
was of too imperious a temper himself to submit to the
imperious temper of that iniquitous nobleman, and we
may add, that he was of too independent a spirit, and too
high a cast of mind to endeavour to establish an interest
at court. His favour, however, with the great was such,
that while in London he was offered a bishopric in Scot-
land. He declined it, because, as his son states, he
thought himself of an unfit age, and that this was one
reason we can readily believe ; Burnet would not accept
an office for the duties of which he felt himself to be
incompetent ; and that an earnest-minded man should
shrink from the responsibilities of a Scottish bishopric at
that time is not wonderful. But other reasons certainly
operated in his mind ; he was now connected with
moderate Presbyterians : they received him as a moderate
Episcopalian : such a position was more flattering to the
self-complacency of a man of Burnet's character, than a
bishopric, for as a Bishop he must either connect himself
entirely with Church principles, or become despicable. He

288 BURNET.

was not prepared for either alternative. Besides, he was
now engaged to be married to a Presbyterian lady, and it
would not be seemly for such a person to be a Bishop's
wife, even if she could have consented to the marriage.
His marriage took place soon after his return to Glasgow,
with the Lady Margaret Kennedy, daughter of the Earl
of Cassillis. In 1672 he came out in a new character by
pubhshing a Yiudication of the Authority, Constitution,
and Laws of the Church and State of Scotland, being
a defeuce of the prerogatives of the crowo, and the estab-
lishment of Episcopacy, against the republican princi-
ples of Buchanan. A dedication to Lauderdale, against
whose character he afterwards wrote with vehemence,
exposed him to a charge of inconsistency, but most
unjustly, for he may have thought highly of Lauderdale
at one period of life, and have seen reasons for changing
his opinion afterwards. There was a wonderful judgment
in Burnet in choosing the right time for his publications,
and so well timed was this work considered, that he was
again pressed to accept a bishopric, with the promise of
the first vacant archbishopric, which he again declined.
Why he declined on this occasion is not quite apparent ;
he may have shrunk from the responsibilities of a most
unpopular office, or he may have been influenced by his
wife, but there does not seem at this period any reason in
principle why he should have refused the appointment,
since he had committed himself, and was soon after sent
among the Covenanters, to preach to them on the necessity
of accepting the benefits of the Act of Indulgence, which
they indignantly rejected. He was disgusted with the
Covenanters, of whom he said, that " they knew very
little of the essentials of religion;" "hot men among
them," he said, " were positive, and all of them were full
of contention." He assisted Archbishop Leighton also
in a conference which he held with the leading Presby-
terian ministers, for the pui*pose of an *' accommodation,"
but the conference only tended to widen the breach, and
Burnet, indignant that those whom he sought to benefit

BURNET. 289

should think differently from himself, remarks, that " the
Presbyterians may see how much their behaviour disgusted
all moderate, wise and good men ; how little sincere and
honest they were in it when the desire of popularity made
them reject propositions which came so home to the
maxims which they themselves had set up."

In 1673 he went again to London and preached before
Charles II, who was so well pleased that he appointed
him one of his chaplains in ordinary. He was introduced
by the Earl of Ancram to the Duke of York, with whom
he soon rose into favour. He introduced Dr. Stillinglleet
to the Duke, and proposed with his assistance to hold a
conference, in the presence of his royal highness, with
some Popish priests ; but this was prudently declined.

Upon his return to Scotland, he retired to his professor-
ship at Glasgow, but was obliged the next year to return
to court, in order that he might justify himself against the
accusations of the Duke of Lauderdale, who had represented
him as the cause of the failure of all the court measures
in Scotland. There was some justice in the accusation.
The King received him very coldly, and ordered his name
to be struck out of the list of chaplains ; yet at the Duke
of York's intreaty, consented to hear what he could ofifer
in his own justification, with which he seemed to be satis-
fied. As Lauderdale, however, was still his enemy,
Burnet, who was told that his enemies had a design to
have him imprisoned, resigned his professor's chair at
Glasgow, and resolved to settle in London. About this
time the living of Cripplegate being vacant, the dean and
chapter of St. Paul s, in whose gift it was, hearing of his
circumstances and the hardships he had undergone, sent
him an offer of the benefice, but as he had been informed
of their first intention of conferring it on Dr. Fowler, he
generously declined it. In 1675, at the recommendation
of Lord Hollis, whom he had known in France, ambas-
sador at that court, he was, by Sir Harbottle Grimstone,
master of the rolls, appointed preacher of the chapel
there, notwithstanding the opposition of the court. He

290 BURNET.

was soon after chosen a lecturer of St. Clement's, and
became a popular preacher. " I have heard him preach,"
says Speaker Onslow, " and he was the finest figure in
the pulpit I ever saw."

In 1676 he pubhshed his memoirs of the Dukes of
Hamilton, and also an account of a conference between
himself and Dr. Stillingfleet, with Coleman, a Jesuit, and
secretary to the Duchess of York. A strong no-popery
feeling at this thne prevailed in the country, in which
Burnet most cordially sympathized ; a just alarm was
felt as to the intentions of the court, and Burnet was
easily persuaded by Sir William Jones, the attorney
general, to write a history of the Reformation in England.
The first volume was published in 1679, at a time when
it was sure to succeed, during the agitation of the Popish
plot. So well-timed was its publication, that Burnet
received the thanks of both houses of parliament, with a
desire that he would finish the work. He was not
thanked by the convocation. He published the second
volume in 1681, and the third, with a supplement, in
1715. Burnet was of too vehement a temper, and too
much of a party man, to be able to take a calm, dis-
passionate, philosophical view of the history he undertook
to write. His history is the history of a partizan, and is
therefore too one-sided. When this is known, and allow-
ance is made for the author s bias, it is a work which
every student of the history or of the theology of his coun-
try will read with profit. He will find on the one side
faults extenuated, while, on the other side, they are ex^-
gerated, but he will not find facts wilfully misrepresented.
And such an historian as Burnet is at least more impar-
tial than some modern historians, who, professing to write
history philosophically, pretend to an impartiality which
is only violated when the Church of England or her
divines are censured. Burnet's history was intended to
be a counterpart to Sander's Sixty Years Schism, which
had lately been translated into French, and industriously
circulated in France. And, both for integrity and temper,

BURNET. 291

the comparison is in favour of the Protestant, to the con-
demnation of the Popish historian.

About the time of the publication of his first volume he
attended a sick person, who had been engaged in an amour
v?ith the Earl of Piochester. The manner in which he
treated her during her illness, gave that lord a great
desire to become acquainted with him. Whereupon
for a whole winter, he spent one evening in a week with
Mr. Burnet, who discoursed with him upon all those
topics, upon which sceptics and men of loose morals attack
the Christian religion. The happy effect of these confer-
ences occasioned the publication of his account of the life
and death of that earl, an account which Dr. Johnson
says, " the critic ought to read for its eloquence, the
philosopher for its argument, and the saint for its piety."
Burnet indeed had honestly attempted to convert King
Charles, to whom on one occasion he addressed a letter of
remonstrance, conceived not with judgment or delicacy of
feeling, but with an honest intent. It appears that he
was often consulted by Charles during the Popish plot,
and that he received from him the offer of the bishopric of
Chichester, " provided he would entirely come into his
interest," — a base offer of a bribe on the part of the King,
which Burnet, like an honest man, refused. When the
administration was changed in 1682 in favour of the Duke
of York, Burnet sacrificed all his views at court, together
with the preachership of the rolls, rather than desert his
party. He published in 168'2 the Life of Sir M. Hale,
and the History of the Plight of Princes in the disposal of
Ecclesiastical benefits and Church Lands. He was sus-
pected of having written the speech which Lord WilHam
Pcussell delivered on the scaffold, and was, in consequence,
examined at the bar of the House of Commons. In 1683
he was offered a living in the country, but as it was on
condition that he should reside in London, where his ser-
vices were required by his party : with his usual disinter-
estedness, and consistent observance of his principles, he
refused it, and went to Paris, where he was well received

292 BURNET.

at the court. On his return, the same year, he published
a translation and Examination of a Letter written by the
last General Assembly of the clergy of France to the Pro-
testants, inviting them to return to their communion, &c.
Also a translation of Sir Thomas More's Utopia, with a
preface, concerning the nature of translations. In conse-
quence of the resentment of the court, he was deprived of
his lectureship at St. Clement's, because he had com-
mented with great and just severity on the gunpowder
plot on its anniversary, which gave great offence to a
popishly affected court. Charles also intimated to the
inhabitants of a parish in London, to whom the right of
election to a vacant benefice belonged, that if they chose
Burnet, he would be highly displeased. In 1685 he
published his life of Bishop Bedell ; and on the accession
of James 11. Burnet thought it prudent to retire to Paris,
where he lived in great privacy for a short time, and soon
after went to Rome, where at first he was well received.
He soon with indiscretion and vehemence entered into
some religious disputes, and he then received a hint that
it was necessary for his personal safety that he should
immediately quit that city. From Rome he went to
Geneva, where he was instrumental in procuring the
abolition of the practice of compelling the ministers of
religion to subscribe their consensus, or consent of doctrine
w'hich many holding Socinian doctrines, the legitimate
offspring of Calvinism, thought they could not conscien-
tiously do. He then went to Utrecht, with the view of
settling there ; but he was invited to the Hague by the
Prince and Princess of Orange, whom he advised to put
the Dutch fleet immediately into commission, and pre-
vailed on their highnesses to write to King James, in
favour of the Bishop of London, who was then under
suspension. When Dychvelt was sent ambassador into
England, Buraet w^as employed to draw up his secret
instructions, and advised the Princess to make known
what share of the government the Prince might expect, in
the event of the crown of England devolving on her.

BURNET. 293

James was offended at the high favour shown to Burnet at
the Hague, (who was indeed acting as a traitor,) and
wrote two severe letters to the Princess, insisting on his
being forbidden the court. Burnet was, accordingly, ex-
cluded from the court, but he was employed and trusted
as formerly, nevertheless. About this period he married
Miss Mary Scott, a Dutch lady of great fortune, and a
descendant of the family of Buccleuch, in Scotland.

Burnet, who was in fact more guilty of high treason
than many a poor wretch who has been hanged, drawn,
and quartered, instead of suffering for his crime, was re-
warded, through the success of his treasonable practices.
In the revolution of 1688 he had a very important share,
and whatever benefits may have been derived to the coun-
try by that event, the conduct of the chief movers in it
cannot be sufficiently reprobated. Burnet, and a few of
those most active in the Orange interest, saw the end from
the beginning ; and while the good people of England
only desired to have their infatuated King restrained in his
tyrannical attempts to introduce Popery into our church,
Burnet and his friends were determined to change the
dynasty. Of the Ptevolution he gave early notice to
the court of Hanover, intimating that its success would
naturally lead to the entail of the British Crown on that
illustrious family, with which he kept up a correspond-
ence, fie wrote several pamphlets in support of the
Prince of Orange's designs, whom he accompanied on his
expedition in quality of chaplain, and at Exeter drew up
the association for pursuing the ends of his highness's
declaration. Dr. Crew, Bishop of Durham, offered to
resign that see in favour of Burnet, on condition of receiv-
ing £1000 per annum, which was declined. But the see
of Salisbury falling vacant, he was preferred to it. So
objectionable was this promotion thought, that Archbishop
Sancroft ventured to incur a premunire, rather than con-
secrate him ; but at last was persuaded to grant a com-
mission to all, or to any three of the Bishops of his pro-
vox. III. H c

294 BURNET.

vince, in conjunction with the Bishop of London, to
exercise his metropoHtical powers, and Burnet was con-
secrated on the 31st March, 1689.

He soon became distinguished as a party man in the
House of Lords. Lord Dartmouth describes him as a
man " of the most extensive knowledge I ever met with ;
he had read and seen a great deal, with a prodigious
memory, and a very indifferent judgment ; he was very
partial, readily took every thing for granted that he heard
to the prejudice of those that he did not like ; which
made him pass for a man of less truth than he really was.
I do not think he designedly published any thing he be-
lieved to be false. He had a boisterous vehement manner
of expressing himself, which often made him ridiculous,
especially in the House of Lords, when what he said
would not have been thought so, delivered in a lower
voice and a calmer behaviour. His vast knowledge occa-
sioned his frequent rambling from the point he was
speaking to, which ran him into discourses of so universal
a nature, that there was no end to be expected but from a
failure of his strength and spirits, of both of which he had
a laiger share than most men ; which were accompanied
with a most invincible assurance." His lordship also in-
forms us that "it is notoriously known, that the Marquis
of Halifax, after he sat with him (Bumet) in the House of
Lords, ma le it his constant diversion to turn him and all
he said into ridicule ; and his son, the last marquis, told
me in his private conversation, he always spoke of him
with the utmost contempt, as a factious, turbulent, busy
man, who was always officiously meddling with what he
had nothing to do, and very dangerous to put any con-
fidence in, having met with many scandalous breaches of
trust while he had any conversation with him."

When, in 1740, John Duke of Argyle alluded to Bishop
Burnet's History of his own Times in the House of Lords,
he said of him, " those who have sat in this house with
that prelate must know that he was a very credulous.

BURNET. !395

weak man. I remember him, my lords, in this house ;
and I likewise remember that my Lord Halifax, my Lord
Somers, and his other friends in the house, were always
in a terror when he rose to speak, lest he should injure
their cause by some blunder."

On taking his seat in the House of Lords, he advocated
the Act of Toleration. He proposed the succession of the
Electress Sophia of Brunswick, next after the Princess
Anne, by the command of William ; and the house of
Hanover always considered him as their devoted adherent,
with whom the Princess Sophia maintained a correspond-
ence to the day of her death. He published a pastoral
letter to the clergy of his diocese, respecting the oaths of
allegiance and supremacy, in which he grounded the
Prince and Princess of Orange's title to the crown on the
right of conquest, which gave such offence to both houses
of parliament, that they ordered it to be burnt by the
hands of the common hangman. On this point he was
undoubtedly right : it was by the sword, not by any con-
stitutional act, that the Prince of Orange was placed on
the throne of these Pi-ealms.

We have hitherto regarded Burnet as a turbulent offi-
cious politician, or a mendacious historian, guilty of men-
dacity through party vehemence rather than from a wish
to deceive ; we have now the more pleasant duty of repre-
senting him as an active, zealous, conscientious prelate.
His mind was earnest, and whatever he attempted he did
with all his might. On the rising of parliament he went
down to his diocese, w^here he exercised his episcopal
functions with exemplary vigilance. In 1692 he pub-
lished the Pastoral Care, in which he specified the clerical
duties with great plainness, and enforced them with equal
zeal. In 1693 he published his Four Discourses to the
clergy of his diocese; and in 1694 he preached the funeral
sermon of his intimate friend Archbishop Tillotson, and
defended his memory from some attacks. Queen Mary
died the same year, and Burnet published an essay on

596 BURNET.

her character. We are not informed when Lady Margaret
Burnet, his first wife, died ; but Mrs. Burnet died of the
small-pox in 1698, whose loss he soon supplied by marry-
ing a third wife, Mrs. Berkeley, of Spetchley, near Wor-
cester, a person of a very high class of mind. The Bishop's
son informs us that he was a very affectionate husband to
all his three wives. We may here remark that there is a
passage in Bishop Burnet's Life of the Earl of Rochester,
which seems to shew that in later life he discarded the
opinion he at one time entertained in favour of polygamy.
In the year 1670, the Duke of Lauderdale, having inform-
ed him that the Duke of York was a Papist, hinted to him
the disgraceful intrigue into which some ultra-Protestants
had entered, to obtain a divorce for Charles II., and to set
aside the duke by obtaining an heir for the crown. The
questions were put to Dr. Burnet, whether a woman's bar-
renness was a just ground for divorce, or for polygamy ;
and, secondly, whether polygamy be in any case lawful
under the Gospel. Burnet, who was an ultra-Protestant,
not an Anglican, resolved both these cases in the affirma-
tive, according to the principles of his masters, the great
foreign Reformers. — (See Life of Bucer.J — In the year of
his third marriage. Bishop Burnet was appointed preceptor
to the Duke of Gloucester, son of the Princess Anne,
which he very reluctantly accepted ; and as he considered
the due discharge of this duty to be inconsistent with his
duties to his diocese, he surprised William by offering to
resign his bishopric. It was at last agreed that the prince
should reside at Windsor, which is within the diocese of
Salisbury, and that the Bishop should be allowed ten
weeks annually to visit his diocese. He seems to have
bestowed great care on the prince s education, and to have
exerted a watchful superintendence over the inferior
teachers. He published his Exposition of the Thirty-nine
Articles in 1699, the object of which is to shew that they
may be understood in a non-natural sense, by either
Arminians or Calvinists.

BURNET. 297

In the convocation which assembled in 1700, the clergy
of the lower house deHvered the following representation
with respect to this book, to the house of bishops :

" Whereas a book hath been lately published, entitled,
' An Exposition of the XXXIX Articles of the Church of
England, by Gilbert, Lord Bishop of Sarum,' which the
author declares to have passed the perusal of both the
Archbishops, and several Bishops and other learned di-
vines, and suggests their approbation of it ; and whereas
we think it our duty, as much as in us lies, to secure the
doctrines contained in those articles, from any attempts
that may be made against them ; we most humbly offer to
your grace and your lordships the sense of this house,
which is as follows :

"1. That the said book tends to introduce such a lati-
tude and diversity of opinions, as the Articles were framed
to avoid.

" -2. That there are many passages in the exposition of
several articles, which appear to us to be contrary to the
true meaning of them, and to other received doctrines of
our Church.

"3. That there are some things in the said book which
seem to us to be of dangerous consequence to the Church
of England as by law established, and to derogate from
the honour of its Reformation.

" iVll which particulars we humbly lay before your lord-
ships, praying your opinion herein."

To this representation the Bishops, waiving for the time
the atonement they had required for the contumacy of the
other house, prepared the following answer :

"1. It is our opinion that the lower house of con-
vocation has no manner of power judicially to censure any
book.

" 2. That the lower house of convocation ought not to
have entered upon the examination of a book of any
Bishop of this Church, without first acquainting the pre-
sident and Bishops with it.

'2c 2

•298 BURNET.

"3. That the lower house of convocation's censuring
the book of the Bishop of Sarura in general terms, without
mentioning the particular passages on which the censure
is grounded, is defamatory and scandalous.

" 4. That the Bishop of Sarum by his excellent
' History of the Reformation' approved by both houses of
parliament, and other writings, hath done great service to
the Church of England, and justly deserves the thanks of
this house.

"5. That though private persons may expound the
articles of the Church, yet it cannot be proper for the con-
vocation at this time to approve, and much less to con-
demn, such private expositions."

The particularities of the charge against Bishop Burnet's
book, which the Bishops insisted on receiving, were never
delivered to them, and the convocation was prorogued by
royal writ to the 7th of August, then to the 18th of
September, and so on till both convocation and parliament
were dissolved in the month of November, 1701.

Burnet projected the scheme for the augmentation of
poor livings, known by the name of Queen Anne's bounty,
which in 1704 was incorporated by act of parliament.
The first-fruits were at first seized by the Pope, and after-
wards transferred to the crown by Henry VIII., and now
were restored to the Church by Queen Anne. In 1706
Burnet published a collection of Sermons, in 3 vols, 4to ;
in 1710, an Exposition of the Church Catechism; and in
1713, Sermons on several Occasions, with an Essay to-
wards a new book of Homilies, with many other short
pieces, which we have not room to enumerate. Bishop
Burnet died on the 17th March, 1715, in the seventy-
second year of his age, and was interred in the parish
Church of St. James, Clerkenwell, in London. After his
death, his son Thomas Burnet, Esq., published his 'His-
tory of his Own Times.' The conclusion of this work is
written, says Lord Dartmouth, " with a spirit of modera-
tion and integrity that could not have been expected

BURNET. 299

from the author of the precedent history, to which it has
little or no relation; and had he never published any
thing besides this, and his History of the Reformation, he
might have passed hereafter as a good as well as a learned
man ; but he was so intoxicated w^ith party zeal and fury,
that he never scrupled saying or doing any thing that
he thought could promote the ends of a party to which he
had so extremely devoted himself." Bishop Burnet him-
self says, " I find that the long experience I have had of
the business, the malice, and the falsehood of mankind, has
inclined me to think generally the worst of men and of
parties."

It is necessary to remind the reader of these things, as
Bishop Burnet in his history maligns great and good men
with whom for their excellence he was not himself to be
compared. Of Archbishops Sheldon and Sancroft he
speaks with unpardonable severity ; and of the clergy
generally, whom he treated with excessive harshness, he
admits that he may have been too much " irritated against
them in consequence of the peevishness, ill-nature, and
ambition of many of them."

The list of Bishop Burnet's works is too long for inser-
tion, and may be found in the Oxford edition of His Own
Times, published in 1823.

Burners Own Times, Edit. Oxon. Life appended by Sir
Thomas Burnet. Notes by Lord Dartmouth, Sidft, and
others, printed in the Oxford edition.

BUKNET, THOMAS.

Thomas Buenet was born at Croft, in Yorkshire, about
the year 1635. His earlier education was at the free-
school of North Allerton, in that county, whence he was
removed to Clare Hall, Cambridge, where he had
Dr. Tillotson for his tutor. Dr. Cudworth was at that
time master of Clare Hall, but removed from it to the

300 BURNET.

mastership of Christ's College, iu 1654; and thither
Burnet followed him. Under his patronage he was chosen
fellow in 1657, commenced M. A. in 1658, and became
senior proctor of the university in 1661 ; but it is uncer-
tain how long he continued his residence there. On
leaving college, he travelled in the capacity of tutor ; first
with the young Earl of Wiltshire, son of the Marquis of
Winchester, (soon after the Revolution created Duke of
Bolton,) and afterwards with the young Earl of Ossory,
grandson and heir of the first Duke of Ormond. His first
publication was his " Telluris Theoria Sacra, Orbis nostri
Originem et Mutationes generales, quas olim subiit et
subiturus est, Complectens." This work, the basis of his
fame, was originally published in Latin, in 2 vols, 4to, the
first two books concerning the Deluge and Paradise, in
1681 ; the last two, concerning the Burning of the World,
and the New Heavens and New Earth, in 1689. The
approbation this work met with, and the particular en-
couragement of Charles II., who relished its beauties,
induced the author to translate it into English. Of this
translation he published the first two books in 1684, folio,
with an elegant dedication to the King ; and the last two
in 1689, with a no less elegant dedication to Queen Mary.
Of the Sacred Theory of the Earth, which is the principal
of all his productions, the theory is well imagined, sup-
ported with much erudition, and described with great
elegance of diction ; but it can only be considered as an
ingenious fancy, and its mistakes arise from too close an
adherence to the philosophy of Des Cartes, and the whole
fabric is a mere visionary system of cosmogony. Yet it
would be endless to transcribe all the encomiums passed
on it. Mr. Addison in 1699, wrote a Latin Ode in its
praise, which has been prefixed to many editions of it.
Dr. Warton, in his Essay on Pope, has not scrupled, from
this single work, to rank Dr. Burnet with the very few in
whom the three great faculties of the understanding, viz.
judgment, imagination, and memory, have been found

BURNET. 301

united. On the 19th of May, 1685, he was chosen master
of the Charter-house, by the interest of the Duke of
Ormond, Lord Steward, to whose grandson, the Earl of
Ossory, he had been governor. Those Bishops, who were
of the number of the electors, made exceptions to him,
that though he was a clergyman, he went always in a lay
habit. But Ormond being satisfied that his conversation
and manners were worthy of a clergyman in all respects,
insisted that these points were much more essential than
the exterior habit. In this station he made a noble
stand against an attempt of King James, to impose one
xlndrew Popham, a Papist, as a pensioner upon the
foundation of that house. After the Revolution, he
was appointed chaplain in ordinary to King William,
and also clerk of the closet. The latter place he owed to
Archbishop Tillotson's interest. In 169'2 he published,
" Archfeologise Philosophicae ; sive Doctiina Antiqua de
Rerum Originibus. 4to," with a dedication to King William.
But neither the high rank and authority of his patron,
nor the elegance and learning displayed throughout the
work, could protect the author from the indignation excited
against him for allegorizing in a very improper manner
the Sciipture account of the Fall. It contains an imagi-
nary dialogue between Eve and the Sei'pent. In conse-
quence of which, as appears from a Latin letter written by
himself to Walters, a bookseller at Amsterdam, dated
September 14, 1G94, he desires to have the offensive parts
omitted in the future editions of that work. But all this
proved insufficient ; and the storm raised against him was
increased by an encomium which Charles Blount, a pro-
fessed infidel, and the author of the Oracles of Reason,
bestowed upon his work. The support of this infidel
writer gave such force to the complaints of the clergy,
that it was judged expedient, in that critical season, to
remove Burnet from his place of clerk of the closet. He
withdrew accordingly from court ; and, if Mr. Oldmixon
can be credited, actually missed the see of Canterbury,

30-2 BURTON.

upon the death of Tillotson, on account of this very work,
wliich occasioned him to be then represented by some
Bishops as a sceptical writer. He then retired to his
studies in the Charter-house, where he lived to an ad-
vanced age. He died in 1715.

In 1727, two other works of his were published in 8vo,
by his friend Mr. Wilkinson, of Lincoln's Inn ; one, De
Fide et Officiis Christianorum ; the other, De Statu Mor-
tuorum et Resurgentium ; in this latter the author main-
tains the doctrine of the Millennium, and the limited
duration of future punishment. One of the few copies
which Burnet had caused to be printed, happened to fall
into the hands of Dr. Mead, who, ignorant of the name of
the author, had the work handsomely reprinted. The
text was very faultily revised by Mattaire. To the second
edition, in 1733, of De Statu Mortuorum et Resurgentium,
is added an appendix, De futura Judi3eorum Restauratione:
it appearing to the editor from Burnet's papers, that it
was designed to be placed there. He is said also to have
been the author of three small pieces without his name,
under the title of Remarks upon an Essay concerning
Human Understaoding; the first two published in 1697,
the last in 1699 ; which Remarks were answered by
Mrs. Catherine Trotter, afterwards Mrs. Cockburn, then
but twentj'-three years of age, in her Defence of Mr. Locke's
Essay, printed in May, 1702.

Dr. Burnet while eulogized by men of literature as a
profound genius, was justly censured by divines for his
heretical tenets and presumptuous speculations, and has
been attacked by men of science for having argued on
erroneous and false principles. — Dr. Ralph Heathcotes
Life in Chalmers.

BURTON, HEZEKIAH.

Hezekiah Burton was educated at Magdalen College,
Cambridge, of which he became a fellow, and where he

BURTON. 303

was an eminent tutor. He was ordained priest by Bishop
Sanderson ; and, in 1667, was appointed chaplain to Lord
Keeper Bridgeman, by whom he was presented to a pre-
bend of Norwich, and to the rectory of St. George's, South-
wark. In 1668, he was engaged, with Dr. Stillingfleet
and Dr. Tillotson, in the treaty proposed by Sir Orlando
Bridgeman, and countenanced by Lord Chief Baron Hale,
for a comprehension with the dissenters. One of the
proposals made was that Presbyterians should be admitted
to officiate in the Catholic Church of England, by imposi-
tion of hands, with words importing, that the person so
ordained was received to serve as a minister of the Church
of England. Dr. Bates, Dr. Manton, and Mr. Baxter, as
Presbyterians, were willing to come into these terms, as
well as they might : the Church of England was treated
as a sect, to minister in which a useless form was to
be submitted to, but the grace of the holy ordinance
of orders was virtually denied. Other concessions were
of course to be made. " The particulars of that pro-
ject," says Bishop Burnet, "being thus concerted, they
were brought to the Lord Chief Baron ; who put them
in form of a bill, to be presented to the next session of
pai'liament.

•' But two parties appeared vigorously against this
design: the one, was of some zealous clergymen, who
thought it below the dignity of the Church, to alter laws
and change settlements, for the sake of some, whom they
esteemed schismatics : they, also, believed it was better to
keep them out of the Church, than bring them into it,
since a faction upon that would arise in the Church,
which, they thought, might be more dangerous than the
schism itself was. Besides, they said, if some things were
now to be changed, in compliance with the humour of a
party, as soon as that was done, another party might de-
mand other concessions ; and there might be as good
reasons invented for these, as for those : many such
concessions might, also, shake those of our Commu-

304 BURTON.

nion, and tempt them to forsake us, and go over to the
Church of Rome ; pretending, that we changed so often,
that they were, thereby, incHned to be of a Church
that was constant and true to herself. These were
the reasons brought, and chiefly insisted on, against
all comprehension : and they wrought upon the greater
part of the House of Commons, so that they passed
a vote, against the receiving of any bill for that
effect.

" There were others, that opposed it upon very different
ends : they designed to shelter the Papists from the exe-
cution of the law; and saw clearly, that nothing could
bring in Popery, so well as a toleration. But, to tolerate
Popery bare-faced, would have startled the nation too
much : so, it was necessary to hinder all the propositions
for union, since, the keeping up the differences was the
best colour they could find, for getting the toleration to
pass, only as a slackening the laws against dissenters ;
whose numbers and wealth, made it advisable to have
some regard to them : and, under this pretence. Popery
might have crept in more covered, and less regarded.
So, these counsels being more acceptable to some con-
cealed Papists, then in great power, as has since ap-
peared but too evidently, the whole project for compre-
hension was let fall : and those who had set it on foot,
came to be looked on with an ill eye, as secret favourers
of the dissenters, underminers of the Church, and every
thing else that jealousy and distaste could cast on
them."

About a year before his death, Oct. 19, 1680, by the
interest of his friend Tillotson with the chapter of
St. Paul's, Dr. Burton obtained the rectory of Barnes, in
Surrey, where he died, in 1681. He wrote the short
Alloquium ad Lectorem, prefixed to Cumberland's treatise,
De Legibus Naturae. After his decease, Dr. Tillotson
published two volumes of his discourses, which are writ-
ten with singular ability.

BURTON. 805

BURTON, HENRY.

Henry Burton. This celebrated Puritan was born at
Birdsall, in Yorkshire, about 1579, and educated at
St. John's College, Cambridge, where he took both his
degrees in arts. He was afterwards in 161*2 incoi-jDorated
M. A. at Oxford, and there took the degree of B. D. He
first was tutor to the sons of Lord Carey of Lepington,
afterwards Earl of Monmouth, and was appointed proba-
bly by his lordship's interest, clerk of the closet to Prince
Henry ; and after his death to Prince Charles. He was
appointed in 16*23, to attend the Prince into Spain, but
this appointment was cancelled, for reasons unknown, after
his luggage had been shipped. He did not forget this dis-
appointment, but probably he would have remained in
silence had his ambition been gratified : for on the accession
of King Charles he was mortally offended at not being con-
tinued clerk of the closet, — Dr. Neile, Bishop of Durham,
who had filled that office under James I. being continued.
These two disappointments excited his hatred, and he
revenged himself by a continual course of opposition and
abuse to the Church. In 1625 he was dismissed the
Court, for some misdemeanour, and for presuming to
write a letter to the King, charging Bishops Xeile and
Laud as inclined to Popery. About the same time he
was presented to the rectory of St. Matthew's, Friday
Street, London, but the date of his institution is not
known. Being leagued with the Puritan faction through
mere reveuge ; (for he afterwards became a violent Inde-
pendent, and opposed his quondam associates Prynne
and Bastwick, who were as bitter in their Presbyterian
notions ;) he made the pulpit of St. Matthew's the place
for vaunting his puritanical extravagances, and became
one of the most violent factionists of his party. In 1624
he began to publish his opinions ; and his works, which
are seventy in number, are enumerated in the Bodleian
Catalogue, and by the industrious Anthony Wood. These
VOL. in 2d

306 BURTON.

have in general the quaint and ludicrous titles f»)r which
the Puritan rhapsodies were so much distinguished. His
first work is " A censure of Simony," London, 1624.
•2. "A Plea to an Appeal, traversed Dialogue wise," 1626.
3. " The Baiting of the Pope's Bull," 1627. 4. *' Trial of
Private Devotions, or a Dyal for the House of Prayer,"
1628. 5. " Israel's Fasts," 1628. 6. "Seven Vials," 1628.
6. " Babel no Bethel, or the Church of Rome no true
visible Church of Christ." 7. "Truth's Triumph over
Trent," 1629, &c. &c.

Burton had been always known as a factious zealot,
but it was not till the year 1636 that he became remark-
able. On the 5th of November, he preached two sermons
in St. Matthew's Church, which he afterwards published,
entitled, " For God and the King," for which he was sum-
moned in December before the commissioners for ecclesi-
astical causes. The oath being tendered to him ex officio,
he refused to take it, and appealed to the King. This
served him nothing, for the same commission soon after
met at Doctors' Commons, by whom he w^as suspended
and deprived of his benefice. He thought it expedient
aftei- this to conceal himself in his own house, and he
published his sermons with an apology.

These sermons were founded on Prov. xxiv. 22, and are
in the same style as the effusions of his associates Prynne
and Bastwick. He assails the Bishops, whom, instead of
fathers, he styles stepfathers, caterpillars instead of pillars,
whose houses are haunted, and their episcopal chairs
poisoned, by the spirit that bears rule in the air. " They
are," he says, " the limbs of the beast, even of Anti-ohrist,
taking his very courses to bear and beat down the hearing
of the word of God, w^hereby men might be saved. Their
fear is more towards an altar of their own invention, an
image or crucifix, the sound and syllable of Jesus, than
towards the Lord Christ. They are miscreants, traps and
wiles of the dragon dogs ; like flattering tales, new Babel-
builders. Blind watchmen, dumb dogs, thieves, robbers

BURTON. SOT

of souls, false prophets, ravening wolves, factors for Anti-
christ, anti-christian mush- rumps." He then clamours
about Popery, which he flatly charges the Bishops with
attempting to introduce, — that the spirit of Rome breathes
in them — that they wish " to wheel about to their Roman
mistress," — that they are confederated with " Priests and
Jesuits to rear up that religion." And, therefore, in his
Apology, which being published at his leisure, makes his
sedition or treason the more notorious, they are styled
" jesuited polypragmatics, and sons of Belial." Dr. White,
Bishop of Ely, is charged with railing, perverting, and
fighting against tiTith. The learned Montague of Chiches-
ter, is " a tried champion of Rome, and devoted votary of
the Queen of Heaven:" Wren, of Norwich, meets with no
quarter from this Puritan Rabshekah; and, finally, he
falls upon the Archbishop, upon whom he bestows plenti-
ful abuse, and declares, " that he had a papal infallibihty
of spirit, whereby, as by a divine oracle, all questions in
religion are finally determined." — "These," says Heylin,
who quotes numerous other expressions, " are the princi-
pal flowers of rhetoric which grew in the garden of Henry
Burton, sufficient, without doubt, to shew how sweet a
champion he was likely to prove of the Church and
Gospel."

It was resolved to adopt strong measures to silence Burton,
but the measures adopted, involved a punishment such as
has excited for Burton the sympathy of many by whom
his principles are detested. As hating arbitrary proceed-
ings we do not attempt a defence of Charles' government
at this time, further than that which exists in the fact,
that all things against Burton were conducted according
to law, and that the law rather than its administrators
ought to be blamed. Even in these days such a libeller
as Burton would not be tolerated, although the spirit by
which he was animated, still instigates the Puritan party
to the utmost bounds of violence and falsehood which are
unpunishable.

On the 1st of February, 1636-7, a Sergeant- at- Arms,

308

The following d^ >^^

with several attendants, having
Chamber, forcibly entered Barton^s
study, and carried him off to prison
by order of the Privy Council, he was conveyed to the
Fleet, where he was closely confined several weeks. Here,
instead of moderating his conduct, he farther insulted the
government by writing "An Epistle to his Majesty,"'
a second "to the Judges," and a third to the "true-
hearted Nobiliiy." For these, and the two sermons before
mentioned, an information was laid against him on the
11th of March.

It appears from Rushworth, that all the Judges met at
Sergeant's Inn, together with the Iving's Counsel, to con-
sider whether these writings did not amount to high
treason. The Judges agreed, however, in the absence of
the Counsel, that nothing could be high treason, unless
charged on the 25th Edward III. This opinion was
delivered by the Lord Chief Justice to the King and
Council, and it remained undecided, till at length it was
resolved to proceed against them in the Star-Chamber.

After an interval of several days, the cause came on at
Trinity Term, when Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton, were
severally charged with " printing and publishing seditious,
schismatical, and libellous books against the hierarchy of
the Church, and to the scandal of the government."
Prynne, however, fearing, or pretending to fear, that they
would not have liberty to reply to the information, after
having drawn up, with his companions, some answers,
which were in themselves so scurrilous that no councillor
would sign them, as was customary in the court, exhibited
a cross information against the Archbishop and others, in
which they were charged " with usurping his Majesty's
prerogative royal, with innovations in religion, licensing
of Popish and Arminian books," and other imaginary
crimes ; but this information being signed solely by them-
selves, it was refused by Lord Keeper Coventry as inad-
missible. A variety of exceptions were now made by the
defendants : they desired that they might have their

BURTON. 809

answers signed with their own hands, according to the
ancient custom of the court, and that they then would
abide its censure. In fine, after having had six weeks
allowed them to prepare their answers, and having neg-
lected so to do, they were held as j^ro confessis; and
Burton's obstinacy in particular was reckoned self-convic-
tion. On the 14th of June, sentence was passed upon
them: Prynne, the most inveterate offender, was con-
demned to be fined £5000, to lose the remainder of his
ears in the pillory, to be branded in both cheeks with the
initials of Slanderous Libeller, and to be imprisoned for
life in Carnarvon Castle. Bastwick and Burton were
sentenced to pay the same fine, and were to lose their
ears in the pillory, to be imprisoned, the one in Laun-
ceston and the other in Lancaster Castle. Prynne and
Bastwick had already been degraded in their several pro-
fessions ; Burton was also degraded from the ministerial
functions, his benefice forfeited, his degrees at the univer-
sity rescinded, writing materials were prohibited to him,
and he was to have no communication with any individual
except his jailor.

Archbishop Laud has been accused by Sectarians of
having borne the principal part in these proceedings, but
it is clearly shewn by Mr. Lawson, that -because he was
personally attacked, he refused to vote when sentence was
pronounced; "Because," said he, at his speech on the
occasion, " the business hath some relation to myself,
I shall forbear to censure them, and leave them to God's
mercy and the King's justice."

On Friday the 30th of June, the three libellers under-
went their sentence. The sentence upon Burton on
account of his profession as a Puritan preacher was
exceedingly unpopular. At his punishment there was
great murmuring among the spectators. He made a very
long speech, extremely incoherent, and abounding in
rhapsodies, the chief design of which was to establish a
parallel between his sufferings and those of our Saviour.
'2d -2

310 BURTON.

There were three pillories set up, and his happened to be
in the centre ; before he was brought out, looking from the
apartment into the Palace- Yard, he said, "Methinks I see
Mount Calvary, where the three crosses, one for Christ,
and the other two for the two thieves, were pitched," This
was the height of enthusiasm : here he compares himself
to Christ in language bordering on profaneness : his allu-
sions, however, to the two other pillories, crosses, in his
opinion, destined, in his religious allegory, for the two
thieves, was no great compliment to his two associates in
suffering, Bastvvick and Prynne, more especially if we ob-
serve his farther expressions, " If Christ," said he, " was
numbered among thieves, shall a Christian for Christ's sake,
think much to be numbered among rogues, such as we are
condemned to be ? Surely, if I be a rogue, I am Christ's
rogue, and no man's." Turning to his wife, he said,
"Wife, why art thou so sad?" — *' Sweetheart," replied
she, " I am not sad." — " No," said he, " see thou be not ;
for I would not have thee dishonour this day by shedding
one tear, or fetching one sigh ; for behold there, for thy
comfort, my triumphing chariot, on the which I must
ride, for the honour of my Lord and Master. And never
was my wedding day so welcome and joyful as this. And
so much the more, because I have such a noble captain
and leader, who hath gone before me with such undaunt-
ed courage, that he saith of himself, ' I gave my back to
the smiters, my cheeks to the scoffers, they pluckt off the
hair. I hide not my face from shame and spitting,' for
the Lord God will help me.' " When he was put into the
pillory, he exclaimed, " shall I be ashamed of a pillory
for Christ, who was not ashamed of a cross for me ? Good
people, 1 am brought hither to be a spectacle to the world,
to angels, and men, and howsoever I stand here to under-
go the punishment of a rogue, yet, except to be a faithful
servant to Christ, and a loyal subject to the King, be the
property of a rogue, I am no rogue. I glory in it." A
bee happening to alight on a nosegay he held in his hand,

BURTON. 311

" Do you not see this poor bee?" he exclaimed, " It hath
found out this very place to suck sweetness from these
flowers, and cannot / suck sweetness from Christ?"' He
then proceeded in a strain of enthusiasm to compare
himself with Jesus Christ. One asked him if the pillory
werexuot uneasy for his neck and shoulder. " How can
Christ's yoke be uneasy," he replied : " this is Christ's
yoke, and he bears the heavier end of it." At another
time, on calling for a handkerchief, he said, "It is hot,
but Christ bore the burden in the heat of the day." With
numbers of his friends he held conversation, who seem to
have been all imbued with the same enthusiasm, and to
have exulted in his extravagant expressions. One of the
guards had a rusty halberd, the iron of which was fixed
to the staff with an old crooked nail. " What an old
rusty halberd is that," exclaimed one : to which Burton
replied, "This seems to me to be one of those halberds
which accompanied Judas when he went to betray his
Master." A friend asked him, if he would have gladly
dispensed with his suffering, " No, not for a world," was
his reply.

After their sentence-, those three unfortunate men were
removed to prison. Prynne, on the 27th of July, was
sent to Mount Orgueil Castle, in the Island of Jersey,
where he continued till he v*as released by the Long
Parliament in 1640. Bastwick was sent to St. Mary's
Castle, in the Island of Scilly, and Burton to Cormet
Castle, in Guernsey. They both remained prisoners till
the same period, when they were released by the said
Parliament ; their sentence reversed ; reparation and da-
mages awarded to them for their punishments, and £5000
voted to Bastwick, and £6000 to Burton, out of the estates
of the Archbishop, the Bishop of London, the Earl of
Arundell, the Earl of Pembroke, Sir Henry Vane, Sir
John Cook, and Sir Francis Windebank, who had all
signed the warrant in the Star- Chamber. The ensuing
disasters, however, prevented the payment of the money.

He was, however, restored to his living of St. Matthew's,

3ia BURTON.

after which he declared himself an Independent, and
complied with the alterations that ensued ; but, according
to Wood, when he saw to what extravagant lengths the
parliament went, he grew more moderate, and afterwards
fell out with his fellow-sufferers, Prynne and Bastwick,
and with Mr. Edmund Calamy. He wrote many contro-
versial and abusive pamphlets. He died Jan. 7, 1648.
Wood. PiUshworth. Neal. Heylms Life of Laud, and
Lawsons Life of Laud.

BUETON, JOHN.

John Burton was born in 1696, at Wenbworthy, in
Devonshire, and educated at Okehampton in that county,
after which he studied some time under Mr. Samuel
Bentham at Ely, and in 1733 removed to Corpus Christi
College, Oxford. Here he was appointed a college tutor, and
read a Greek lecture, when he was only Bachelor of Arts.
In 1720 he took the degree of Master of Arts, and in 1729
that of B.D. In 1733 he was elected fellow of Eton Col-
lege, and about the same time obtained the vicarage of
Maple-Derham in Oxfordshire, where he married the
widow of his predecessor, Dr. Edward Littleton, though
she was wholly unprovided for, and had three daughters,
whom he regarded as his own. In 1752 he took his
Doctor's Degree, and in 1766 was presented to the rectory
of Worplesdon in Surrey. At the close of his life he col-
lected his scattered pieces under the title of Opuscula
Miscellanea. On the death of his wife, in 1748, he resided
chiefly at Eton, giving himself up to literature and the
exercise of that hospitality, which rendered his house
equally acceptable to the young and old who merited his
regard. Having taken a decided part against Wilkes he
was bitterly attacked by Churchill, who describes his style
as full of trick and awkward affectation, and says, that

" So dull his thoughts, yet pliant in their growth,
They're verse or prose, are neither or are both-'"

BURTON. 313

On the Sunday before his death, which was hastened by
an attack of erysipelas, he sent, according to custom, for
some of the most promising boys of the school, and after
supper discoursed with more than usual perspicuity and
elegance, on some important subject of divinity, and after
a gentle sleep breathed his last, on February 11, 1771,
aged seventy-six. His works consist of two volumes of
sermons, and his dissertation on Samuel contains some
curious observations on the schools of the Prophets
amongst the Israelites. To these must be added his
Opuscula Miscellan. Theolog., and Opusc. Miscell. Metrico
Prosaica, a portion of which, under the title of Sacerdos
Parochialis Rusticus, was translated, in 1800, by the
Rev. Davis Warren. In 1744 appeared his Genuineness
of Lord Clarendon's History, in refutation of the slanders
of Oldmixon, in his Critical History of England ; and in
1766 he published his Papists and Pharisees compared,
&c., as an antidote to Phillip's Life of Cardinal Pole; and
about the same time he preached a series of sermons to
refute the articles of the Council of Trent. His name as
a scholar is mixed up with an edition of the Pentalogia,
subsequently reprinted by T. Burgess; but the work was
merely brought out at his expense in honour of his pupil,
Joseph Bingham, through whose early death it had been
left unfinished.

The university of Oxford was much indebted to him for
his exertions in promoting discipline, and particularly for
his attention to the Clarendon press. — De vita et moribus
Johannis Burtoni by Dr. Edward Bentham. Nichols s Life
of Boicyer.

BURTON, EGBERT.

Robert Burton was born at Lindley, in Leicestershire,
in 1576. He was the younger brother of the Leicester
antiquary, and was educated at Sutton-Coldfield ; after
which he became a commoner of Brazenose College,

8U BUS.

Oxford, from whence he removed to Christ Church, on
being elected to a studentship. In 1614 he took his degree
of B. D., and in 1616 was presented to the vicarage of
St. Thomas, in Oxford, to which was afterwards added the
rectory of Segrave, in Leicestershire. Wood's character
of him is, that "he was an exact mathematician, a curious
calculator of nativities, a general read scholar, a thorough-
paced philologist, and one that understood the surveying
of lands well. As he was by many accounted a severe stu-
dent, a devourer of authors, a melancholy and humorous
person ; so by others, who knew him well, a person of great
honesty, plain dealing, and charity. I have heard some of
the ancients of Christ Church often say, that his company
was very merry, facete, and juvenile : and no man in his
time did surpass him for his ready and dexterous inter-
larding his common discourses among them with verses
from the poets and sentences from the classic authors,
which, being all the fashion, made his company the more
acceptable." Burton was an hypochondriac, and much
given to astrology. He died in 1639-40, and was buried
in Christ Church. His " Anatomy of Melancholy," was
printed first in 4to., and afterwards in folio. It is a store-
house of learning on all kinds of subjects, intermingled
with quaint observations and witty illustrations, from
which several modern writers have drawn amply, without
acknowledgment. Among these wholesale plagiaries,
Sterne was the most barefaced, and the best of his pathetic,
as well as humorous passages, are literally copied from
Burton. — Wood, Athen. Oxon. Ferriers Illustrations of
Sterne.

BUS, CiESAR DE.

C^SAR DE Bus, founder of a religious order, called
Priests, or Fathers of the Christian doctrine, was born of
a noble family at Cavaillon, in 1544. He at first cul-
tivated poetry, and gave himself up to a life of pleasure ;

BUSBY. 315

but he afterwards reformed, lived in a most exemplary
manner, took orders, and travelled from place to place,
administering the right of confession, and catechising.
His zeal having procured him many disciples, he formed
them into a society, whose principal duty was to teach what
they called the Christian doctrine. Pope Clement VIII.
gave his approbation to the establishment of this society
in 1597, and in the following year appointed De Bus
general of it. He had also some share in establishing the
Ursulines of France. He lost his sight about fourteen
years before his death, which took place at Avignon, in
1607. He left only a book of instructions, drawn up for
his society, called Instructions familiares sur les quatre
parties de la Doctrine Chretienne, 1G56, 8vo. — Moreri.
Moshehn.

BCSBY, EICHAED.

Richard Busby was born at Lutton, in Lincolnshire,
September 22, 1606 ; and after receiving his education as
a king's scholar at Westminster, was elected a student of
Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his B.A. degree
October 21, 1628, and M.A. January 18, 1631 ; but as he
was too poor to pay the fees, the vestiy of St. Margaret's,
Westminster, voted him £11. 13s. 4d., which he not only
repaid afterwards, but added to it an annual sum for the
support of the parish school. In 1631 he obtained a pre-
bendal stall in Wells cathedral, the income of which he
lost during the civil war. In 1638 or 1640, for authorities
differ, he became head-master of Westminster school,
and continued so for fifty-five years ; and used to boast
that at one time sixteen out of the whole bench of bishops
had been his pupils.

Mr. Darnell, in his life of Dr. Basire, has published
three private letters of this great and good man which
exhibit his character in an amiable pi.-int of view. As
Mr. Darnell observes, there was something eminently
social as well as practical in the religion of this period.

316 BUSBY.

Friends strengthened each other in sphit, and drew their
own union closer by urging their mutual wants to the
throne of grace. It had not yet become a matter of form
only for Christians to request each others prayers — the
intermediate step towards that oblivion of the duty of in-
tercession, which seems to prevail so generally.

"To the Bight WorshijTfull my very ivorthy friend
Dr. Basire, at Eaglesdiffe in the Bishoprick of Dur-
ham these.

** Dear Friend,

" I REJOICE with you at your safe arrival. Since your
departure I have taken your counsel as to the country
air, and find the blessing of it. And that you may know
me to be very regardful of your direction, I make haste
again to obey the advice of your letters, and write now
this my answer booted. The friendly esteem which you
are pleased to have of me, (truly very unworthy of your
consideration, especially of your love,) obligeth me to
make my acknowledgments of it before God, and to
beseech Him that he would repay you with His all. suffi-
cient plentitude, for that portion which you vouchsafe me
of your much beloved self. Sir, you have made an indeli-
ble impression of your merit in me, which I shall pre-
serve with the same fidehty I do your goods ; and I
heartily intreat you to retain me, a most empty name,
meritissimam sarcinam, in your memory and devotion.
I remember your expression of Jacob's staff in your part-
ing note ; and I assure you that I esteem your fervent and
assiduous prayers to be both a Jacob's staff and ladder to
support and elevate a feeble and sinful soul — sic enim
Jacobus, " the prayers of the faithful avail much." I
would heartily wish that you were sensible of that sweet-
ness, that religiosissimum mel, which I find in my heart,
a tui nominis recordatione favos luxuriosissime degustans;
then you would believe these words faint symbols, not
fnirid globes, of a heart devotedly yours.

BUSBY. S17

" No news but what you may read or spell out of the
orders enclosed — only this — the Bishop of Lincoln rides
his visitation, and begins in October: and for security he
hath an order from the Lords at his own motion. The
Bishop hath not yet left us at Westminster; remaining
still alone of all the Bishops ; a stout defendant of his
order and discipline; not without the envy, hatred, and
broad censures of the people. Pray for the church as it
concerns us all ; and pray for me.

" Yours, animiter

" Richard Busby.

** My service to your virtuous bedfellow. Child is very
well."

The second letter is a short one, and concludes thus : —
*• Good Sir, help me to present my humble thanks to
your religious family for all your goodness towards me,
specially Sursum : and I heartily request you and yours
not to cease, through my nnworthiness, so still to oblige
your most obt. servant, R. B." The third letter was
written when the hearts of all good men were full of
trouble.

Dr. Bushy to Dr. Basire.

** Reverend and dear sir,

'* My omission of L'rs, so much due, may justly deserve
your complaint : which, that I may expiate, I desire your
friendly iniilt. There may appear in me defect of words,
but not of will or deed, for your service : and it is your
favour to require and accept my rudeness of speech so as
to signify the want. But who could be silent to such a
friend ! whose commerce is so precious. It is sufficient
loss to me that I have retarded your hand, which other-
wise would have been more frequent in writing. Let not
this be my punishment, to suffer your silence for mine.
Rather rebuke me as you have done by your L'rs sweetly,
and help me to procure pardon by your prayers, as you
VOL. III. 2e

318 BUSBY.

do daily. Ah, friend ! Never more need of wrestlings witb
God, and woe is me, that I acknowledge it rather than
practice it. A dead numbness hath these many years
fallen upon my spirits, as upon the nation: join with me
in the versicle, Ps. 13, ' 0 Lord my God, lighten mine
eyes that I sleep not in death.' All things at this time
are in so dubious a calm, that the fear is greatest when
the danger is less visible. Oh, that after this fluctuation
of things, any hope of settlement were, that we might com-
fort our souls in the issue, if bad with patience, if good
with joy. But a wiser pilot than I cannot foresee any cer-
tainty of the event : and a tedious expectation wearies the
minds of all them, who are not strong in the Lord. And
it would be a great solace to me, if in this blind condition
of things I might but enjoy the sight of you, for whose
exile I have reason to mourn. I pray, Sir, assist my
ardent desires of lessening your captivity, by showing me
the means whereby I am able. Discover unto me, what I
may do, more, than desire to do, for you. Money! what
I cau, I would send ; and of this my will, my deed may
be the true interpreter ; but your modesty permits me not
to enlarge myself. 'Tis true, I abound not ; but I beseech
you, let me not suffer you to want in necessaries. At my
request Sir Wm. Godolphin undertook to make the place of
your abode comfortable to you by his friends there with
you ; and for this office and benefit I have engaged myself
by way of commutation in his son, a pledge with me.
What hath been done, more than the return of that my
token (whereof you acknowledged the receipt long since) I
know not, but desire to learn from you by your next.
Travellers into your parts there are yet none, whom I would
present to your acquaintance. Mr. Thurscrosse is again
settled in Yorkshire : Mr. Ferrar with his family at Gidden,
long since Mr. Mapletiffe hath a good living. All remem-
ber you the Joseph in affliction. I intend to pass the
month August in progress for the recovering of my health
and strength, if it so please God, for I am wearied and

BUSBY. 319

wasted with phjsick, your prayers have (I believe) much
contributed to my preservation in my great infirmities and
perils. For which I beseech you still oblige,

" Your most affectionate.

"R. B/-

We have an interesting account also of Dr. Busby in the
letter of Isaac Basire to his father Dr. Basire, in 1065.

"I. H. S.
•' Isaac Basire to Dr. Basire.
" Reverend Sir,

" At Cambridge I was on the 4th of this instant, when
I received both yours dated the last week: within two
hours of the receipt I set forward for London : I have left
tlie chief of my business at Cambridge undone, as my own
exeat, my Bro. Ch. settlement, and a chamber for him, ray
Br. P. admission, &c., all which will cost me a journey back
for two or three days.

" Yours to Dr. Busby, then very busy, I delivered in my
riding habit, that to Mr. Sayer (who entertains me with a
great deal of civility and thankfulness) on the 6th of May;
to my Lord of Winchester and Mr. Eyles, I presented
theirs the same day ; my Lord Grace of Canterbury was
then in the room : as sooq as my lord had read your
letter, his lordship told me he would not write then, (I
heard they were going to sit in council, and the French
ambassador had public audience that day) but appointed
me to come and receive the answer to-morrow morning,
betwixt seven and eight.

" Mr. Durell is at Windsor, and will not be in town till
next week. Mr. Sayer can procure me a bill of exchange
payable in France, so that I shall need but as many livres
as I shall need in France till my bill be paid.

" Yesterday I was with Dr. Busby ; in these words he
gives my brothers a character, they are industrious and
good children, that my Br. Ch. has learning, and is much
improved since his coming up, and that very many not so
good scholars as he are gone from his school to the univer-

820 BUSBY.

sity. The Dr. will not promise that he is so exquisite and
every way qualified as you desire. His advice is, {you
know very well his way and humour,) that you should call
him down to you to try yourself and to give him your in-
structions (which may be done, as to me it was by letter)
for his behaviour and studies in the university. The
Dr. gave me his benediction when I took my leave, and
desired me to sup with him and our D. of Durham this
night, (whom I have w^aited on yesterday morning). If
Dr. Busby say no more concerning my brother I will follow
your former instructions, and take him to Cambridge and
admit him ; from thence if you please (which I hope you
need not) you may send for him to you.

" By the next you will receive my Lord Bishop's answer
and an account of what I could not dispatch by this. I
humbly beg yonr good prayers for prosperity in all our
undertakings and for a blessing upon,
" Sir,

"Your dutiful son,

Isaac Basiee.
"Westminster, May 7, 1665.

*' P.S. You may please to direct yours at my brother's
lodgings here."

During the usurpation of Cromwell he was removed by
the tyranny of ruling powers from his situation, to make
room for the second master, Bagshaw, who was a hot dis-
senter and republican ; but he was reinstated at the Resto-
ration. In 1660 he obtained a prebendal stall in West-
minster, and was made treasurer and canon residentiary
of Wells ; and at the coronation of Charles II. he carried
the ampulla, containing the oil of consecration. From the
inscription on his monument, it appears that, as a school-
master, he possessed the happy art of discovering the
latent seeds of talent in his pupils, and the still greater
power of bringing them forward ; while he felt as a wealthy
pluralist, that riches were showered upon him only to
enable him to relieve the poor, and to encourage men of
learning, and for the promotion of piety. His disciplina

BUSBY. 321

was severe, and he used to declare that a rod was his sieve ;
and that whosoever could not pass through it, was no boy
for him — an obsei-vation verified in the case of Dr. South ;
of whom, when young, he observed, " I can see great talents
in that sulky boy, and will bring them out with my rod."
But notwithstandiug his rigid discipline, he contrived to
gain the love of his pupils ; who could scarcely fail to ad-
mire the independence of their master, who, when the King
entered his school-room, did not condescend to take off his
hat ; observing afterwards to some of the suite, that a
master should appear as great a sovereign in his school, as
the King did at court. Of his numerous benefactions done
in secret, no record has been presei-ved ; but it is known that
he gave £"250 to the funds required to repair the chapel of
his college, and another sum for that of Lichfield cathedral.
He offered to found a lectureship of £100 per annum at
each university, for instructing the under-graduates in
the rudiments of the Christian religion ; but the offer was
rejected, because it was accompanied with stipulations
supposed to be inconsistent with their statutes. He died at
the advanced age of eighty -nine, April 6th, 169-5, without
experiencing any of the evils which length of years seldom
fail to bring, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. A list
of his publications, which are merely elementai7 works, or
school editioDs. is given in a note in the Biog. Britan. :
but some of them are supposed by Wood, in his Athense
Oxonienses, to have been got up by Busby's assistants :
a remark that appears the more probable, as it has been
said that he never allowed notes upon any classical authors
read in his school. — Wood. Gent. Mag. Ixv. Darnell's
Basire. Seward's Anecdotes.

BUSH, PAUL.

Paul Bush was born in ] 490. He became a student at

the university of Oxford about 1513, and five years after

took the degree of B.A., being then, according to Wood,

numbered among the celebrated poets of the university.

2e 2

S2a BUTLER.

He afterwards became a brother of the order called Bon-
lioms, and, after studying some time among the friars of
St. Austin, now Wadham College, he was elected provin-
cial of his order at Edington in Wiltshire, and canon of
Salisbury. In process of time he was appointed chap-
lain to King Henry VII Ith, and when that Monarch
founded the see of Bristol he was elected the first Bishop
thereof, being consecrated at Hampton on the '^Sth of
June, 1542. He was deposed on the accession of Mary, as
a married Bishop, and died in 1558. — Wood. Stnjpe.

BUTLER, JOSEPH.

Joseph Butler, a celebrated saint, of whom the
Church of England may justly boast, though by puritans,
and worse than puritans, by rationalists, he was accused
in his day of Popery, was born at Wantage, in Berkshire,
in 1692. His father, Mr. Thomas Butler, was a reputable
shopkeeper in that town, of the Presbyterian persuasion,
and had determined to educate him for the Presbyterian
ministry. With this view, after young Butler had gone
through a course of grammatical literature, at the free
grammar school of his native place, under the care of the
Rev. Philip Barton, he was sent to a dissenting academy
at Gloucester, under the superintendance of a Mr. Jones,
who shortly after removed with his students to Tewkes-
bury, where he had for pupils three young men, whose
original destination was the Presbyterian ministry, but
who afterwards became prelates of the Church of Eng-
land— Chandler, Seeker, and Butler; of these the two
latter were contemporaries. It was during his residence at
Tewkesbury, and when only in his twenty-second year,
that Butler discovered that taste for metaphysical specu-
lation, and that severe accuracy of judgment, for which he
has since been distinguished throughout the world. An
examination of the argument a prion employed by
Dr. Samuel Clarke, in his celebrated Demonstration of

BUTLER. 328

the Being and Attributes of God, suggested to the mind
of Butler certain doubts and difficulties, which he ven-
tured to state, with becoming modesty, in an anonymous
communication to Clarke.

He commenced the first of these letters, which is dated
Nov. 4, 1713, by remarking that he had "made it his
business, ever since he thought himself capable of such
sort of reasoning, to prove to himself the being and attri-
butes of God ;" that, " being sensible that it is a matter of
the last consequence, he endeavoured after a demonstra-
tive proof, not only more fully to satisfy his own mind,
but also in order to defend the great truths of natural
reHgion, and those of the Chiistian revelation, which
follow from them, against all opposers." He expresses
his " concern, that hitherto he has been unsuccesful ; for
although he had got very probable arguments, yet he
could go but a very little way with demonstration in the
proof of those things." He refers to the hope he had
entertained, of having all his enquiries answered, by the
peiiisal of the work published by his learned correspond-
ent, entitled A Demonstration of the Being and Attri-
butes of God ; but adds, that " even that had failed him."'
He then proceeds to state the difficulties which arose in
his mind, in connexion with Proposition 6, where
Dr. Clarke proposes to prove, " the infinity or omni-
presence of the Self-existent Being;"' observing, "The
former part of the proof seems highly probable ; but the
latter part, which seems lo aim at demonstration, is not to
me convincing." The cogency and depth of thought con-
tained in Butlers arguments, and the modesty with
which they were proposed, attracted the attention of the
distinguished person to whom they were submitted, and
he commenced his reply, dated Nov. 10, in the following
manner: "Did men who publish controversial papers,
accustom themselves to write with that candour and
ingenuity with which you propose your difficulties, 1 am
persuaded almost all disputes might be very amicably
terminated, either by men's coming at last to agree in

3-24 BUTLER.

opinion, or at finding reason to suffer each other friendly
to differ. Your two objections are veiy ingenious, and
urged with great strength and acuteness ; yet I am not
without hopes of being able to give you satisfaction in
both of them." The letter concludes with this remark :
'• If any thing still sticks with you in this or any other
part of my books, I shall be very willing to be informed of
it."

This correspondence extends to five letters on each
side. Butler opens the second, by saying, " I have often
thought that the chief occasions of men's differing so
much in their opinions, were, either their not under-
standing each other ; or else, that instead of ingenuously
searching after truth, they have made it their business to
find out arguments for the proof of what they have once
asserted." I am sorry I must tell you, your answ^ers to
my objections are not satisfactory. The reasons why I
think them not so, are as follow," &:c. Dr. Clarke, with
much courtesy, replied to these reasons, but without con-
vincing Butler's mind ; who thus concludes his rejoinder :
" I am so far from being pleased that I can form objec-
tions to your arguments, that besides the satisfaction it
would have given me in my own mind, I should have
thought it an honour to have entered into your reason-
ings, and seen the force of them. I cannot desire to
trespass any more upon your better employed time ; so
shall only add my hearty thanks for your trouble on ray
account, and that I am, with the greatest respect, &c."

Dr. Clarke, however, w^as not willing that the correspond-
ence should thus terminate, and he therefore began his
third letter with, " Though, when I turn my thoughts
every way, I fully persuade myself there is no defect in
the argument itself; yet in my manner of expression, I
am satisfied there must be some want of clearness, when
there remains any cUfficulty to a person of your abilities
and sagacity." To this, Butler answers, "Whatever is
the occasion of my not seeing the force of your reasonings,
I cannot impute it to (what you do) the want of clearness

BUTLER 825

in your expression. I am too well acquainted with my-
self, to think my not understanding an argument, a suffi-
cient reason to conclude that it is either improperly
expressed, or not conclusive ; unless I can clearly show
the defect of it. It is with the greatest satisfaction, I
must tell you, that the more I reflect on your first argu-
ment, the more I am convinced of the tiuth of it." " I
wish I were as well satisfied in respect to the other." He
thus concludes this fourth letter : " All your conse-
quences, I see, follow demonstrahly from your suppo-
sition ; and were that evident, I believe it would serve to
prove several other things as well as what you bring it
for. Upon this account, I should be extremely pleased to
see it proved by any one. For, as I design the search
after truth as the business of my life, I shall not be
ashamed to learn from any person ; though, at the same
time, I cannot but be sensible, that instruction from
some men is like the gift of a prince, it reflects honour on
the person on whom it lays an obligation."

To the further explanations of Dr. Clarke, Butler in
the commencement of his fifth letter, remarks, " You
have very comprehensively expressed in six or seven lines,
all the difficulties of my letter." I am very glad the
debate is come into so narrow a compass ; for I think now
it entirely turns upon this, whether our ideas of space
and duration are partial, so as to pre-suppose the exist-
ence of some other thing," &c. Having then proposed
certain difficulties which lay in the way of a demonstra-
tive conclusion, he adds, " Notwithstanding what I have
now said, I cannot say that I believe your argument not
conclusive ; for I must own my ignorance, that I am
really at a loss about the nature of space and duration."
The correspondence on Butler's part was thus ended :
" Your argument for the omnipresence of God seemed
always to me very probable. But being very desirous to
have it appear demonstrably conclusive, I was sometimes
forced to say what was not altogether my opinion ; not
that I did this for the sake of disputing (for besides th«

326 BUTLER.

particular disagreeableness of this to my own temper, I
should surely have chosen another person to have trifled
with) ; but I did it to set off the objections to advantage,
that it might be more fully answered. ''

The closing letter of Dr. Clarke, contains the following
passage : " We seem to have pushed the matter in ques-
tion between us as far as it will go ; and, upon the whole,
I cannot but take notice, I have very seldom met with
persons so reasonable and unprejudiced as yourself, in
such debates as these."

When Mr. Butler's name was made known to Dr. Clarke,
the candour, modesty, and good sense with which he had
written, immediately procured him his friendly considera-
tion. Another subject which occupied Butler's mind
during his residence at Tewkesbury was, the propriety of
his becoming a dissenting minister. Accordingly, he
entered into an examination of the principles of Noncon-
formity ; the result of which was such a dissatisfaction
with them, as determined him to conform to the Catholic
Church, and to seek for orders in the English branch of
it. This intention was at first very disagreeable to his
father, who earnestly endeavoured to divert him from it,
and with that view called in the assistance of some
eminent Presbyterian teachers ; but finding his son's
resolution to be fixed, he at length consented to his
removal to Oxford, where he w^as admitted a commoner
of Oriel College, on the 17th of March, 1714. While at
Oxford, he formed a friendship with Mr. Edward Talbot,
second son of Dr. William Talbot, successively Bishop of
Oxford, Salisbury, and Durham, at whose recommenda-
tion he was, in 1718, appointed by Sir Joseph Jekyll
preacher at the Rolls; where he continued till 1726,
when he published, in one volume 8vo, Fifteen Sermons,
preached at that chapel.

In these sermons he has taught, says Sir James Macin-
tosh, "truths more capable of being exactly distinguished
from the doctrines of his predecessors, more satisfactorily
established by him, more comprehensively applied to par-

BUTLER. 327

ticulars, more rationally connected with each other, and
therefore more worthy of the name of discovery, than any
with which we are acquainted." The ethical system of
Butler is thus briefly and ably given by Macintosh.

"Mankind have various principles of action; some lead-
ing directly to the private good, some immediately to the
good of the community. But the private desires are not
self-love, or any form of it ; for self-love is the desire of a
man's own happiness, whereas the object of an appetite or
passion is some outward thing. Self-love seeks things as
means of happiness ; the private appetites seek things,
not as means, but as ends. A man eats from hunger, and
drinks from thirst ; and though he knows that these acts
are necessary to life, that knowledge is not the motive of
his conduct. No gratification can indeed be imagined
without a previous desire. If all the particular desires
did not exist independently, self-love would have no object
to employ itself about ; for there would be no happiness,
which, by the very supposition of the opponents, is made
up of the gratifications of various desires. No pursuit
could be selfish or interested, if there were not satisfactions
first gained by appetites which seek their own outward
objects without regard to self; which satisfactions compose
the mass which is called a man's interest.

" In contending, therefore, that the benevolent affections
are disinterested, no more is claimed for them than must
be granted to mere animal appetites and to malevolent
passions. Each of these principles alike seeks its own
object, for the sake simply of obtaining it. Pleasure is the
result of the attainment, but no separate part of the aim
of the agent. The desire that another person may be gratifi-
ed, seeks that outward object alone, according to the general
course of human desire. Reseutment is as distinterested
as gratitude or pity, but not more so. Hunger or thirst
may be, as much as the purest benevolence, at variance
with self-love. A regard to our own general happiness is
not a vice, but in itself an excellent quality. It were well
if it prevailed more generally over craving and short-

328 BUTLER.

sighted appetites. The weakness of the social affections,
and the strength of the private desires, properly consti-
tute selfishness ; a vice utterly at variance with the hap-
piness of him who harbours it, and, as such, condemned
by self-love. There are as few who attain the greatest
satisfaction to themselves, as who do the greatest good to
others. It is absurd to say, with some, that the pleasure
of benevolence is selfish, because it is felt by self. Un-
derstanding and reasoning are acts of self, for no man
can think by proxy ; but no one ever called them selfish.
Why ? Evidently because they do not regard self. Pre-
cisely the same reason applies to benevolence. Such an
argument is a gross confusion of self, as it is a subject of
feeling or thought, with self considered as the object of
either. It is no more just to refer the private appetites
to self-love because they commonly promote happiness,
than it would be to refer them to self-hatred in those fre-
quent cases where their gratification obstructs it.

" But, besides the private or public desires, and besides
the calm regard to our own general welfare, there is a
principle in man, in its nature supreme over all others.
This natural supremacy belongs to the faculty which sur-
veys, approves, or disapproves the several affections of our
minds and actions of our lives. As self-love is superior
to the private passions, so conscience is superior to
the whole of man. Passion implies nothing but an
inclination to follow it ; and in that respect passions differ
only in force. But no notion can be formed of the prin-
ciple of reflection, or conscience, which does not compre-
hend judgment, direction, superintend ency. Authority
over all other principles of action is a constituent part of
the idea of conscience, and cannot be separated from it.
Had it strength as it has right, it would govern the world.
The passions would have their power but according to
their nature, which is to be subject to conscience. Hence
we may understand the purpose at which the ancients,
perhaps confusedly, aimed, when they laid it down, that
virtue consisted in following nature. It is neither easy,

BUTLER. 829

nor, for the main object of the moralist, important, to ren-
der the doctrines of the ancients by modern language. If
Butler returns to this phrase too often, it was rather from
the remains of undistinguishing reverence for antiquity,
than because he could deem its employment important to
his own opinions.

" The tie which holds together Religion and Morality is,
in the system of Butler, somewhat different from the
common representations, but less close. Conscience, or
the faculty of approving or disapproving, necessarily con-
stitutes the bond of union. Setting out from the belief of
Theism, and combining it, as he had entitled himself to
do, with the reality of conscience, he could not avoid dis-
covering that the being who possessed the highest moral
qualities, is the object of the highest moral affections. He
contemplates the Deity through the moral nature of man.
In the case of a being who is to be perfectly loved, ' good-
ness must be the simple actuating principle within him ;
this being the moral quality which is the immediate
object of love.' ' The highest, the adequate object of
this affection, is perfect goodness ; which, therefore, we
are to love with all our heart, with all our soul, and with
all our strength.' ' We should refer ourselves implicitly
to him, and cast ourselves entirely upon him. The whole
attention of life should be to obey his commands.' Moral
distinctions are thus pre- supposed before a step can be
made towards religion : virtue leads to piety ; God is to
be loved, because goodness is the object of love ; and it
is only after the mind rises through human morality to
divine perfection, that all the virtues and duties are seen
to hang from the throne of God.'

Dr. Chalmers, in his Bridgewater Treatise, remarks
that " Bishop Butler has often been spoken of as the dis-
coverer of this great principle in our nature, i. e. the supre-
macy of conscience; though, perhaps, no man can properly
be said to discover what all men are conscious of. But
certain it is, that he is the first who hath made it the
VOL. ni. '^ F

330 BUTLER.

subject of a full and reflex cognizance. It forms the argt
ment of his three first sermons, in a volume which may
safely be pronounced, the most -precious repository of sound
ethical principles extant in any language. " The authority
of conscience," says Dugald Stewart, " although beauti-
fully described by many of the ancient moralists, was not
sufficiently attended to by modern writers, as a funda-
mental principle in the science of ethics, till the time of
Dr. Butler."

In 1722 Butler w^as presented by Dr. Talbot, Bishop
of Durham, to the rectory of Haughton, near Darlington,
and in 1725 to that of Stanhope, in the same diocese, and
one of the wealthiest, but most retired benefices in Eng-
land. While Butler continued preacher at the Rolls
chapel he divided his time between his duty there and
his parochial functions ; but when he quitted the Rolls, he
resided during seven years wholly at Stanhope.

Butler gave himself up, with his accustomed piety, to
the duties of a parish priest, but as the bent of his mind
was to contemplation rather than to those active habits
which a country clergyman is obliged to form, he felt
severely the want of that more cultivated society to which
he had been so long accustomed, and which seemed neces-
sary to awaken the activity of his mind. It must have
been severe labour to Butler to render himself intelligible
to his humble flock ; he nevertheless exerted himself, and
the parish priests of England are complacent, when they
remember that the greatest metaphysician the world ever
produced, long laboured in an obscure parish, setting a
bright example of pastoral duty.

Dr. Philpotts, the present Bishop of Exeter, who, after
an interval of eighty years, succeeded Dr. Butler at
Stanhope, informs us, that he "lived very retired, was
very kind, and could not resist the importunities of com-
mon beggars, who knowing his infirmity, pursued him so
earnestly, as sometimes to drive him back into his house,
as his only escape. I confess I do not think my authority

BUTLER. 331

)!• this trait of character in Butler, is quite sufficient to
justify my reporting it with any confidence. There was,
moreover, a tradition of his riding a black pony, and
riding always very fast. I examined the parish books,
not with much hope of discovering anything worth record-
ing of him ; and was unhappily as unsuccessful as I
expected. His name, indeed, was subscribed to one or
two acts of vestiy, in a very neat and easy character; but
if it was amusing, it was mortifying, to find the only trace
of such a man's labours, recorded by his own hand, to be
the passing a parish account, authorizing the payment of
five shillings, to some adventurous clown who had de-
stroyed a 'foumart,' or wood-marten, the marten-cat, or
some other equally important matter."

The late Bishop of Durham, Dr. Van Mildert, in a
letter to the Archdeacon of Lincoln, mentions the following
reminiscence of his great predecessor, while at Stanhope,
upon the authority of the present incumbent of that parish :
*' When in London, Dr. Butler used to say to his servant,
' John, you and I must be thinking of riding down to
Stanhope some of these days.' A communication which
the servant always judiciously interpreted to mean that
the horses were to be at the door on the next Monday
morning, after breakfast, for the commencement of their
journey to the north." The Bishop adds, moreover, " that
he was frequently seen riding through Frosterley, a hamlet
of Stanhope, at a great pace, on a black horse."

Although Butler sought no removal himself, his friends
desired to see him placed in some situation more congenial
to his peculiar powers of mind. His friend Seeker, after-
wards Archbishop of Canterbury, omitted no opportunity
of expressing this desire to such as he thought capable of
giving effect to it. Having himself been appointed King's
chaplain in 1732, he took occasion, in a conversation with
Queen Caroline, to mention to her his friend Mr. Butler.
The queen remarked that she thought he was dead ; and,
not satisfied with his assurance to the contrary, she enquir-
ed of Archbishop Blackburne, who replied, "No, madam;

83a BUTLER.

but he is buried." Mr. Seeker, continuing his purpose
of endeavouring to bring his friend out of his retirement,
found means, upon Mr. Charles Talbot's being made Lord
Chancellor, to have Mr. Butler recommended to him for
his chaplain. The chancellor assented ; and this promo-
tion calling Butler to town, he took Oxford in his way,
and was admitted there to the degree of D. C. L. on the
8th of December, 1733. The chancellor gave him also a
prebend in the church of Eochester, and when Dr. Butler
refused to absent himself from his parish, the chancellor
entered into a compromise, and consented that he should
reside at Stanhope one half of the year. Dr. Butler being
thus drawn from retirement, soon gained that notice which
was due to his virtues and acquirements. In 1736 he was
appointed clerk of the closet to Queen Caroline ; and in
the same year he presented to her, previous to its publi-
cation, his celebrated treatise, entitled The Analogy of
Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and
Course of Nature.

This great work, as Mackintosh remarks, is only a
commentaiT on the singularly original and pregnant pas-
sage of Origen, which is so honestly prefixed to it as a
motto, but it is, notwithstanding, the most original and
profound work extant in any language on the philosophy of
religion. It is impossible, within the limits prescribed to us
in this work, to give an analysis of this wonderful treatise,
with which every student in divinity is accustomed to
make himself thoroughly acquainted. It is, says a writer
in the Quarterly Review, a work too thoughtful for the
flippant task of the sceptical school, and indeed is only to
be appreciated after much patient meditation. It is not
a short line that will fathom Butler. Let a hundred
readers sit down to the examination of the Analogy, and
however various the associations of thought excited in their
minds by the perusal, (whether as objections or otherwise),
they will find on examination that Butler has been before-
hand with them in all. This may not at first strike them.
Often it will discover itself in a hint, overlooked, perhaps,

BUTLER. 333

in a first reading, dropped by Butler in the profusion of
his matter, as it were, to show, that he was aware of what
might be said, but that he had better game on foot; and still
more often will it be traced, in the caution with which he
selects an expression, not perhaps the obvious expression,
such, indeed, as to a superficial reader may seem an unac-
countable circumlocution, or an ungraceful stiffness of
language. In all these cases, he is evidently glancing at
an argument, or parrying an objection of some kind or
other, that had been lurking about him ; objections and
arguments which may sometimes present themselves to us
at once, but which very frequently are latent till the
undercurrent of our thoughts happens to set in with
Butler's, and throws them up. We have heard persons
talk of the obscurity of Bishop Butler's style, and lament
that his book was not re-written by some more luminous
master of language. We have always suspected that such
critics knew veiy little about the Analogy. We would
have no sacrilegious hand touch it. It would be like
officious meddling with a well considered move at chess.
We would change a word in it with the caution of men
expounding hieroglyphics, — it has a meaning, but we have
not hit upon it; others may, or we ourselves may, at
another time. The Analogy is a work carefully and
closely packed up, out of twenty years' hard thinking. It
must have filled folios, had its illustrious author taken
less time to concoct it ; for never was there a stronger in-
stance of the truth of the observation, that it requires far
more time to make a small book than a large one. For
ourselves, whether we consider it as directly corroborative
of the scheme of Christianity, by shewing its consistency
with natural religion, or whether, (which is, perhaps, its
most important aspect,) as an answer to those objections
which may be brought against Christianity, arising out of
the difficulties involved in it, we look upon the Analogy
of Bishop Butler, as the work, above all others, on which
the mind can repose with the most entire satisfaction, and
faith found itself, as on a rock."
2f2

334 BUTLER.

Dr. Butler remarked to a friend, that his plan in writ-
ing the Analogy had been, " to endeavour to answer, as he
went along, every possible objection that might occur to
any one against any position of his, in his book." " This
way of arguing, from what is acknowledged to what is dis-
puted," obseiTes Bishop Halifax, " from things known to
other things that resemble them, from that part of the
Divine establishment which is exposed to our view to that
more important one which lies beyond it, is on all hands
confessed to be just. By this method Sir Isaac Newton
has unfolded the system of nature ; by the same method,
Bishop Butler has explained the system of grace ; and
thus, to use the words of a writer whom I quote with plea-
sure, ' has formed and concluded a happy alliance between
faith and philosophy.' "

" I know no author," says Dr. Reid, "who has made a
more just and a more happy use of analogical reasoning
than Bishop Butler, in his Analogy of Religion. In that
excellent work, the author does not ground any of the
truths of religion upon analogy as their proper evidence.
He only makes use of analogy to answer objections against
them. When objections are made against truths of reli-
gion, which may be made with equal strength against
what we know to be true in the course of nature, such
objections can have no weight." To the same pui-pose, it
is observed by Dr. Campbell, that " analogical evidence is
generally more successful in silencing objections than in
evincing truth. Though it rarely refutes, it frequently
repels refutation; like those weapons which, though they
cannot kill the enemy, will ward his blows."

When Dr. Butler was appointed clerk of the closet, he
attended Queen Caroline, by her majesty's commands,
every day between seven and nine in the evening. The
orthodoxy of Queen Caroline has been doubted ; it is
therefore satisfactory to learn, from Bishop Butler's private
memoranda, that his first official act in his new capa-
city was, to administer to her the Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper privately, at Kensington. The Queen died in

BUTLER. 835

1737 : but out of regard to her wishes, and on the re-
commendation of Lord Chancellor Talbot, Dr. Butler was
the next year nommated by the King to the see of Bristol,
and, as a matter of course, elected by the dean and chap-
ter. In the spring of 1740, owing to the insufficiency of
the episcopal revenues of Bristol, he was appointed to
the deanery of St. Paul's, and was thus enabled to resign
the rectory of Stanhope. His alterations and repairs in
the palace at Bristol, were so extensive as to have
amounted, it is said, to a larger sum than the whole in-
come of the see, during his incumbency : and when his
friends observed that he was expending more than his
episcopal revenues upon these improvements, he used to
reply, that " the deanery of St. Paul's paid for them."

The late dean of Bristol, Dr. Beake, in a letter upon
the subject, to the Archdeacon of Lincoln, observes,
" Bishop Butler is believed to have expended a very con-
siderable sum in repairs of the palace ; but the exterior of
the building was almost all of it about coeval with the
abbey itself, the walls being about five feet thick, of which
the partially calcined ruins are now to be seen. Much of
the interior had been altered at the cost of Bishop Butler,
and a very prevalent idea exists, especially since estimates
have been made of the damages by the fire, that he was
greatly imposed upon by those whom he employed.
Various traditions exist, of the sum he expended, as
£4000, or £5000 ; but I have never been able to trace
any one of them to any authentic source, though from my
own observations, and those of skilful surveyors, I believe
they are not far distant from the truth. I have heard
another tradition, to which I give some, although limited
credit, that he spent the whole income of the bishopric,
on an average of about twelve years, during which he held
it, in repairs and improvements of the palace."

When Butler was carrying forward the alterations in the
episcopal residence, the merchants of Bristol made him a
present of a considerable quantity of cedar, with which he
adorned the palace. Not having occasion to use the whole

336 BUTLER.

of this cedar, he took some of it to Durham, upon his re-
moval thither in 1750, where it remained in an un wrought
state, until one of his distinguished successors, the ami-
able and munificent Bishop Barrington, had it made into
articles of furniture, which he presented to his friends as
mementos of Bishop Butler.

Amongst the various improvements which Butler made
in the palace at Bristol, was the entire renovation of the
interior of the private chapel ; where, over the communion
table, he placed the cross, at which offence was subse-
quently taken, when the charge of attachment to Romish
usages was made against him. The ground of this cross
was a large slab of black marble, into which a cross of
white marble, of about three feet high, by eighteen inches
wide, was sunk. The whole was surrounded by some of
the cedar alluded to, which was beautifully carved. The
chapel and the cross remained, in the state in which
Bishop Butler left them, until the destruction of the
palace by an infuriated mob, upon the 31st of October,
1831.

Towards the end of 1747, a lady of rank having solicited
the advice of Butler upon a point of conscience, in refer-
ence to Church property, he addressed to her the following
letter.

" London, December 22, 1747.
" Madam,

"Your letter of the 14th current, which did not
come to hand till the 18th, cannot, indeed, require any
sort of apology. I know not how to refuse my judgment,
such as it is, in a case of conscience, to any person that
asks it : but I think myself strictly bound to give it to
good persons of my own diocese. For I mention only this
demand you have upon me, because, upon such an occa-
sion as the present, I do not chose to speak of your rank,
madam, nor of the great civilities I have received from
you.

BUTLER 837

" The corrujDtion and disorder of human affairs is such
as has perplexed the rule of right, and made it hard in
some cases to say how one ought to act. But I apprehend
there is no such difficulty in the case you put. Property
in general is, and must be, regulated by the laws of the
community. This, in general, I say, is allowed on all
hands. If, therefore, there be auy sort of property exempt
from these regulations, or any exception to the general
method of regulating it, such exception must appear,
either from the light of nature, or from revelation. But,
neither of these do, I think, show any such exception,
and, therefore, we may with a good conscience retain any
possessions, church lands, or tithes, which the laws of the
state we live under give us a property in. And there
seems less ground for scruple here in England than in
some other countries; because our ecclesiastical laws agree
with our civil ones in this matter. Under the Mosaic
dispensation, indeed, God himself assigned to the priests
and Levites, tithes, and other possessions : and in those
possessions they had a divine right ; a property, quite
superior to all human laws, ecclesiastical as well as civil.
But every donation to the Christian Church is a human
donation, and no more ; and therefore cannot give a dinne
right, but such a right only as must be subject in common
•with all other property to the regulation of human laws.
I would not carry you, madam, into abstinise speculations;
but think it might be cleai'ly shown, that no one can have
a right of perpetuity in any lands, except it be given by
God, as the land of Canaan was to Abraham. There is
DO other means by which such a kind of property or right
can be acquired : and plain absurdities would follow from
the supposition of it. The persons then, who gave these
lands to the Church, had themselves no right of perpetuity
in them, consequently, could convey no such right to the
Church. But all scruples concerning the la\vfulness of
laymen's possessing these lands go upon supposition, that
the Church has such a right of perpetuity in them : and,

338 BUTLER.

therefore, all those scruples must be groundless, as going
upon a false supposition.

" As you do not mention, madam, in what particular
light you consider this matter, I chose to put it in differ-
ent ones. And having said thus much concerning the
strict justice of the case, I think myself obliged to add,
that great disorders having been committed at the
Reformation, and a multitude of parochial cures left scan-
dalously poor, and become yet poorer by accidental cir-
cumstances, I think a man's possession of one of those im-
poverished cures is, not, indeed, an obligation in justice,
but a providential admonition, to do somewhat, according
to his abilities, towards settling some competent mainten-
ance upon it, in one way or another. In like manner, as
a person in distress, being my neighbour, dependent, or
even acquaintance, is a providential admonition to me in
particular, to assist him, over and above the general obli-
gation to charity, which would call upon me to assist such
a person, in common with all others who were informed
of his case. But I think I ought to say, since I can say
it with great truth, that I mention this, not, madam, as
thinking that you want reminding of it, but as the subject
itself I write upon requires it should be mentioned.

" You need not, madam, have given yourself the trou-
ble of desiring secrecy, since the thing itself so plainly
demands it.

I am with the truest esteem, madam,
your most obedient, most faithful,

and most humble servant,

Jo. Bristol,"

" I have considered tithes and Church lands as the
same, because I see no sort of proof, that tithes under the
Gospel are of Divine right ; and if they are not, they
must come under the same consideration with lands."

On the death of Archbishop Potter, in 1747, it was

BUTLER. 339

proposed to make Bishop Butler the Primate of all Eng-
land. But he declined the appointment. Again, when
in 1750 the see of Durham became vacant, the King
determined upon the translation of the Bishop of
Bristol ; but there were difficulties in the proposed
arrangements, which alarmed the scrupulous mind of
Butler, and for a time rendered it doubtful whether he
would accept the distinguished mark of favour which his
Majesty was anxious to show him. One of these diffi-
culties is thus stated by the Lord Bishop of Exeter, upon
the authority of Mr. Emm, who was secretary to Bishop
Barrington, after having, in early life, acted as under-
secretary to Butler : " Bishop Butler, as might be pre-
sumed, had not sought a translation to Durham ; he was
purely passive in it, and not absolutely passive. For, on
his privately understanding that it was the intention of
the minister, the Duke of Newcastle, to cQnfer the lord
lieutenancy, which had hitherto gone with the palatine
see, on the Lord Barnard, Butler gave it to be understood
that he had not the slightest wish to move to Durham,
and was content to stay where he was ; but he would not
consent to the see of Durham losing a single honour
which it had been accustomed to enjoy, on occasion of his
succeeding to it. The lord lieutenancy therefore, inappro-
priate as it might be justly deemed, to the mitre even
of Durham, was not withdrawn from it till the next
vacancy."

The traditional^ account of this transaction in the
family of the Bishop states, that when he received a letter
from the minister to inform him of his Majesty's pleasure
he immediately wrote, to express his dutiful acknowledg-
ments to the King ; but for the reason given he declined
the proposed translation. He is reported to have said,
that "it was a matter of indifference to him whether he
died Bishop of Bristol or of Durham ; but that it was not
a matter of indifference to him whether or not the honours
of the see were invaded during his incumbency ; and he

340 BUTLER.

therefore begged to be allowed to continue Bishop of
Bristol." He very shortly aftenvards received another
letter from the minister, to inform him that " it was his
Majesty's pleasure that he should become Bishop of Dur-
ham, without any condition whatever."

Neither was this the only difficulty in the way of
Butler's translation to Durham. " Another instance of
his delicacy of feeling on this occasion, (says the Bishop
of Exeter, upon the authority of Mr. Emm), will be more
accordant with general opinion. On his translation, the
deanery of St. Pauls was to be vacated. The minister
wished to give it to Butler's oldest and best friend,
Seeker, who held a stall at Durham, which, in that case, it
was proposed that the crown should give to Dr. Chapman.
Unfortunately the arrangemant was mentioned to Butler
before he was translated; and highly gratifying as it would
be to him for Seeker's sake, his conscience took alarm,
lest it should bear even the semblance of a condition of his
oven promotion. He for some time hesitated in conse-
quence to accept the splendid station which solicited him ;
nor did he yield till his scruple respecting all possible no-
tion of condition was utterly removed."

By the translation of Bishop Butler to the see of
Durham more ample means were afforded for the indul-
gence of that extensive beneficence which was always so
prominent a trait in his character. Scarcely had he taken
possession of his new diocese, when he began to make
great alterations in and about the castle at Durham, as
well as to commence extensive repairs and improvements
at Auckland. Among the alterations at the castle, he re-
placed the old tapestry hangings of the dining rooms with
stuccoed walls and rich ornaments below the cornices.
He enlarged the apertures, and put in new gothic win-
dows on the north side of the edifice ; and took down and
rebuilt a considerable part of the outer walls at the north
door, where his arms are placed. He moreover renewed
the interior of the apartments appropriated for the use of

BUTLER. 341

the judges ; setting up new fire-places, stoves, &c., and
having the whole arrangements conducted in a complete
and substantial manner.

In an article, which appeared in the Bath Journal,
June 2'2, 175'-^, upon the death of Bishop Butler, and
which is supposed to have been drawn up by Archbishop
Seeker, is the following allusion to this subject, as well as
to the munificence with which he contributed to one of
the local charities of his diocese : " His lordship, upon
his translation to Durham, immediately set about repair-
ing his two seats there, which, if he had lived, he would
have put into as good condition as he did his palace at
Bristol. It is said that he entered himself an annual
subscriber of £400 a year to the county hospital of Dur-
ham, as soon as he came to the bishopric thereof."

In supporting the- dignity of his high station, he not
only avoided eveij thing mean, but evinced the greatest
liberality. He expressed himself desirous of imitating
the generous spirit of his predecessor and first patron,
Bishop Talbot ; and in compliance with this spirit, he
appointed three days in eveiy week for the entertainment
of the principal gentry of the county and neighbourhood,
who might feel disposed to accept his hospitality. The
clergy of his diocese were always welcome guests, both at
the castle of Durham and at Auckland ; and not only did
he invite the poorest of his clerical brethren to the palace,
but he occasionally visited them at their respective
parishes.

He was welcomed by the clergy ; and with the parochial
clergy, he who had long been a parish priest, knew how to
sympathise. When on a visit to his lordship they found
themselves treated with the same honour and respect as
the proudest aristocrats of the county; and when he
visited them, he did not make his visit a burden by being
attended by an expensive equipage. He did not act in
anger or caprice ; and instead of hurrying over the offices
of religion as if they were unworthy of his attention, he

VOL. III. 2g

342 BUTLER

performed all the duties of his high office with peculiar
solemnity.

The following interesting anecdote has been told of
him : A gentleman once waited upon Bishop Butler, to
lay before him the details of some projected benevolent
institution. The Bishop highly approved of the object in
view, and calling his house-steward, inquired, how much
money he then had in his jwssession ? The answer was,
" Five hundred pounds, my lord." " Five hundred
pounds!" exclaimed his master; "what a shame for a
Bishop to have so much money ! Give it away ; give it
all to this gentleman, for his charitable plan."

Notwithstanding the liberal hospitality and munificence
of Butler upon suitable occasions, his private habits were
simple and unostentatious. "A friend of mine, since
deceased, told me," says the Ptev. John Newton, " that
when he was a young man, he once dined with the late
Dr. Butler, at that time Bishop of Duttiam ; and though
the guest was a man of fortune, and the interview by ap-
pointment, the provision was no more than a joint of meat
and a pudding. The Bishop apologized for his plain fare,
by saying, ' that it was his way of living ; that he had
been long disgusted with the fashionable expense of time
and money in entertainments, and was determined that
it should receive no countenance from his example.'"

In Hutchinson's History of Durham, Bishop Butler is
thus described : — " He was of a most reverend aspect ;
his face thin and pale ; but there was a divine placidness
in his countenance which inspired venerati(m, and ex-
pressed the most benevolent mind. His white hair hung
gracefully on his shoulders, and his whole figure was
patriarchal."

In Surtee's history of the same place are the following
remarks upon him : — " During the short time that Butler
held the see of Durham he conciliated all hearts. In ad-
vanced years, and on the episcopal throne, he retained the
same genuine modesty and native sweetness of disposition

BUTLER. 343

which had distinguished him in youth and in retirement.
During the ministerial performance of the sacred office, a
divine animation seemed to pen^ade his whole manner,
and lighted up his pale wan countenance, already marked
with the progress of disease, like a torch glimmering in
its socket, yet bright and useful to the last."

Soon after his appointment to the see of Durham,
Bishop Butler turned his attention to the importance of
introducing episcopacy into North America, and drew up
a plan for that purpose, which, not being adopted at the
time, was again brought under the consideration of govern-
ment some years after his decease. This plan appears in
p. 55 of Mr. Apthorpes Review of Dr. Mayhew's Remarks,
and also in the Annual Register of 1765, where it is thus
alluded to, (p. 108) : " The following plan for introducing
episcopacy into North America, as laid down by Bishop
Butler in 1750, has been for some time, it is said, under
the consideration of the goveiTiment.

1. " That no coercive power is desired over the laity in
any case, but only a power to regulate the behaviour of
the clergy who are in episcopal orders ; and to correct and
punish them according to the laws of the Church of
England, in case of misbehaviour or neglect of duty,
with such pov^er as the commissaries abroad have ex-
ercised.

2. " That nothing is desired for such Bishops that may
in the least interfere with the dignity, or authority, or in-
terest of the governor, or any other office of state. Pro-
bates of wills, license for marriages, &c., to be left in the
hands where they are ; and no share in the temporal
government is desired for Bishops.

3. " The maintenance of such Bishops not to be at the
charge of the colonies.

4. " No Bishops are intended to be settled in places
where the government is left in the hands of dissenters,
as in New England, &c. But authority to be given only
to ordain clergy for such Church of England congrega-
tions as are among them, and to inspect into the manners

344 BUTLER.

and behaviour of the said clergy, and to confirm the m^^m-
bers thereof."

It is much to be regretted that the deliberations of the
government upon this reasonable and important measure
should have terminated without its adoption. It is said
to have been the opinion of that distinguished statesman,
Mr. Pitt, that had the Church of England been efficiently
established in the United States, it was highly probable
that those states would not have been separated from Great
Britain.

It was not to be supposed that a prelate devout, ascetic,
generous, learned, and catholic, would long be without
enemies. And Satan soon found an opportunity to in-
dulge the wishes of those who do his work by acting as
accusers of brethren. Bishop Butler, like all the great
divines of the Church of England, was accused of popery.
The charge was brought against him first on the pub-
lication of his primaiT charge. The deep, philosophical
mind of this great prelate saw the importance of external
religion, and on this subject he charged his clergy in
1751. The charge is a plain and practical pastoral ad-
dress, such as we should expect from one who had not
only come forward as a metaphysician, but was fully
acquainted with all the difficulties of the parish priest.
The state of irreligion and infidelity, so generally prevail-
ing in this country at that time, Bishop Butler thought
indicative of those last days in which Faith will scarcely
be found upon Earth. The principal design of the Bishop
in this charge, is to exhort his clergy to do their part
towards re\dving a practical sense of religion among the
people committed to their charge, and as one way of
effecting this, " to instruct them in the importance of
external religion," or the use of outward observances in
promoting piety. Bishop Halifax, in defending Bishop
Butler from the charge of popeiy, provides us with a con-
cise analysis of this portion of the charge.

" From the compound nature of man, consisting of two
parts, the body and the mind, together with the influence

BUTLER. 345

which these are found to have on one another, it follows,
that the religious regards of such a creature ought to be
so framed as to be in some way properly accomodated to
both. A religion which is purely spiritual, stripped of
every thing that may affect the senses, and considered
only as a divine philosophy of the mind, if it do not
mount up into enthusiasm, as has frequently been the
case, often sinks after a few short fervours into indiffer-
ence; an abstracted invisible object, like that which
natural religion offers, ceases to move or interest the
heart ; and something further is wanting to bring it nearer
and render it more present to our view, than merely an
intellectual contemplation. On the other hand, when in
order to remedy this inconvenience, i;ecourse is had to in-
stituted forms and-ritual injunctions, there is always
danger lest men be tempted to vest entirely on these, and
persuade themselves that a painful attention to such obser-
vances will atone for the want of genuine piety and virtue.
Yet surely there is a way of steering safely between these
two extremes ; of so consulting both the parts of our con-
stitution, that the body and the mind may concur in
rendering our religious services acceptable to God, and at
the same time useful to ourselves. And what way can
this be, but precisely that which is recommended in the
charge ; such a cultivation of outward as well as inward
religion, that from both may result, what is the point
chiefly to be laboured, and at all events to be secured, a
correspondent temper and behaviour ; or in other words,
such an application of the forms of godliness as may be
subservient in promoting the power and spirit of it ? No
man who believes the Scriptures of the old and new Testa-
ment, and understands what he believes, but must know,
that external religion is as much enjoined, and constitutes
as real a part of revelation as that which is internal. The
many ceremonies in use among the Jews, in consequence
of a divine command ; the baptism of water, as an
emblem of moral purity ; the eating and drinking of bread

346 BUTLER.

and wine, as symbols and representations of the body and
blood of Christ required of Christians ; are proofs of this.
On comparing these two parts of religion together, one it
is immediately seen is of much greater importance than
the other; and whenever they happen to interfere, is
always to be preferred : but does it follow from hence, that
therefore that other is of little or no importance, and in
cases where there is no competition, may entirely be
neglected ? or rather is not the legitimate conclusion
directly the reverse, that nothing is to be looked upon as of
little importance, which is of any use at all in preserving
upon our minds a sense of the divine authority, which re-
calls to our remembrance the obligations we are under,
and helps to keep us, as the Scripture expresses it, in the
fear of the Lord all the day long? If, to adopt the in-
stance mentioned in the charge, the sight of a Church
should remind a man of some sentiment of piety ; if,
from the view of a material building dedicated to the
service of God, he should be led to regard himself, his
own body, as a living temple of the Holy Ghost, and
therefore, no more than the other to be profaned or
desecrated by any thing that defileth or is impure, could
it be truly said of such a one that he was superstitious,
or mistook the means of religion for the end ? If, to use
another, and what has been thought a more obnoxious
instance, taken from the Bishop's practice, a Cross,
erected in a place of public worship, should cause us to
reflect on Him who died on a cross for our salvation, and
on the necessity of our own dying to sin, and of cinicify-
ing the flesh with its affections and lusts ; would any
worse consequences follow from such sentiments so ex-
cited, than if the same sentiments had been excited by
the view of a picture of the crucifixion, suppose such as is
commonly placed, and with this very design, in foreign
churches, and indeed in many of our own ? Both the
instances here adduced, it is very possible, may be far
from being approved, even by those who are under the

BUTLER. 347

most sincere convictions of the importance of true reli-
gion ; and it is easy to conceive how open to scorn and
censure they must be from others, who think they have a
talent for ridicule, and have accustomed themselves to
regard all pretensions to piety as hypocritical or super-
stitious. But Wisdom is justified of her children. Re-
ligion is what it is, whether men will hear or whether
they will forbear ; and whatever in the smallest degree
promotes its interests, and assists us in performing its
commands, whether that assistance be derived from the
medium of the body or the mind, ought to be esteemed
of great weight, and deserving of our most serious atten-
tion.'

Bishop Butler had not been long at Durham before his
health began visibly to decline. His resignation duiing
his illness was what was to be expected from so holy a
man. Some persons ventured to speak of his resignation
in his presence, when he expressed a wish that he might
be spared a little longer, because in his high position he
had so much opportunity of carrying out his designs for
the true welfare of his fellow creatures. After consulting
and pursuing the course recommended by the most emi-
nent physicians of the north, his indisposition assumed
a more serious aspect, and he was advised to repair to
Clifton, and make trial of the waters of that place. These
having failed to produce the desired effect, his removal to
Bath was suggested, where he was shortly afterwards con-
veyed in a broken and exhausted state, and where he
died on the 16th of June, 1752. He was buried at
Bristol.

It so happens that we possess a minute account of his
long illness and of his death, by his devoted friend and
chaplain, Dr. Forster, who never left him, aud who injured
his health by his incessant attention to the dying prelate.
The original letters published by Bartlett are deposited at
Lambeth, among Archbishop Seeker's private manuscripts.
They are enclosed in a paper which has the following
inscription in the hand-writing of that prelate ; " Letters

348 BUTLER.

from Dr. Forster and Bp. Benson, concerning the last
illness and death of Bp. Butler ; to be kept at Lambeth,
as negative arguments against the calumny of his dying
a papist." It is disgraceful to the Romanists to re-assert,
as they have done of late, what any one who has paid the
slightest attention to the subject must know to be a false-
hood. But although the falsehood is repeated by the
Romanists, the sin of inventing it lies at the door of the
Ultra-protestants. It is sad to see two extremes uniting
for so wicked a purpose. Bishop Porteus refers to the
imputation of this apostacy as a " strange slander, founded
on the weakest pretences, and most trivial circumstances
that can be imagined ;" and judiciously adds, " Surely,
it is a very unwise piece of policy, in those who profess
themselves enemies to popery, to take so much pains to
bring the most respectable names within its pale ; and to
give it the merit of having gained over those who were the
brightest ornaments, and firmest supporters of the Pro-
testant cause."

The author of these volumes has been censured by some
of his critics for referring to modern controversies : but
the cause of truth, as well as zeal for the honour of the
Church of England, require that the history of the whole
controversy should be laid before the reader in the words
of Bishop Halifax :

" The attack was made in the year 1767, in an
anonymous pamphlet, entitled The Root of Protestant
Errors examined : in which the author asserted, that ' by
an anecdote lately given him, that same prelate,' who at
the bottom of the page is called B— p of D — m, ' is said
to have died in the communion of a church, that makes
much use of saints, saints' days, and all the trumpery of
saint worship.' When this remarkable fact, now first
divulged, came to be generally known, it occasioned, as
might be expected, no little alarm : and intelligence of it
was no sooner conveyed to Archbishop Seeker, than in a
short letter, signed Misopseudcs, and printed in the
St. James's Chronicle of May 9, he called upon the writer

BUTLER. 849

to produce his authority for publishing 'so gross and
scandalous a falsehood.' To this challenge an immediate
answer was returned by the author of the pamphlet, who,
now assuming the name of Phileleutheros, informed Misop-
seudes, through the channel of the same paper, that ' such
anecdote had been given him ; and that he was yet of
opinion there is not any thing improbable in it, when it
is considered that the same prelate put up the Popish
insignia of the cross in his chapel, when at Bristol ; and
in his last episcopal charge has squinted very much
towards that superstition.' Here we find the accusation
not only repeated, but supported by reasons, such as they
are; on which it seemed necessary that some notice
should be taken ; nor did the Archbishop conceive it un-
becoming his own dignity to stand up on this occasion as
the vindicator of innocence against the calumniator of the
helpless dead. Accordingly in a second letter in the same
newspaper of May 23, and subscribed Misopseudes, as
before; after reciting from Bishop Butlers sermon before
the Lords the very passage, here printed in the preface,
and observing that ' there are in the same sermon declara-
tions as strong as can be made against temporal punish-
ments, for heresy, schism, or even for irlolatiy ;' his grace
expresses himself thus : ' Now he (Bishop Butler) was
universally esteemed, throughout his life, a man of strict
piety and honesty, as well as uncommon abilities. He
gave all the proofs, public and private, which his station
led him to give, and they were decisive and daily, of his
continuing to the last a sincere member of the Church of
England. Nor had ever any of his acquaintance, or most
intimate friends, nor have they to this day, the least doubt
of it.' As to putting up a cross in this chapel, the Arch-
bishop frankly owns, that for himself he wishes he had
not ; and thinks that in so doing the Bishop did amiss.
But then he asks, ' Can that be opposed as any proof of
popeiy, to all the evidence on the other side ; or even
to the single evidence of the above-mentioned sermon ?
Most of our churches have crosses upon them ; are they

350 BUTLER.

therefore Popish churches? The Lutherans have more
than crosses in theirs : are the Lutherans therefore Pa-
pists ?' And as to the Charge, no Papist, his grace
remarks, would have spoken as Bishop Butler there does,
of the observances pecuUar to Roman Catholics, some of
which he expressly censures as wrong and superstitious,
and others, as made subservient to the purposes of super-
stition, and on these accounts, abolished at the reformation.
After the publication of this letter, Phileleiitheros replied
in a short defence of his own conduct, but without pro-
ducing any thing new in confirmation of what he had
advanced. And here the controversy, so far as the two
principals were concerned, seems to have ended.

" But the dispute was not suffered to die away quite so
soon. For in the same year, and in the same newspaper
of July '2 1 , another letter appeared ; in which the author
not only contended that the cross in the episcopal chapel
at Bristol, and the charge to the clergy of Durham in
1751, amount to full proof of a strong attachment to the
idolatrous communion of the Church of Rome, but, with
the reader's leave, he would fain account for the Bishop's
'tendency this way.' And this he attempted to do, 'from
the natural melancholy and gloominess of Dr. Butler's
disposition ; from his great fondness for the lives of
Romish saints, and their books of mystic piety ; from his
drawing his notions of teaching men religion, not from the
New Testament, but from philosophical and political
opinions of his own ; and above all, from his transition
from a strict dissenter amongst the Presbyterians to a
rigid Churchman, and his sudden and unexpected eleva-
tion to great wealth and dignity in the Church.' The
attack thus renewed excited the Archbishop's attention a
second time, and drew from him a fresh answer, sub-
scribed also Misopseudes, in the St. James's Chronicle of
August 4. In this letter our excellent Metropolitan, first
of all obliquely hinting at the unfairness of sitting in
judgment on the character of a man who had been dead
fifteen years ; and then reminding his correspondent, that

BUTLER. 351

• full proof had been already published that Bishop Butler
abhorred popery as a vile corruption of Christianity, and
that it might be proved, if needful, that he held the Pope
to be Antichrist ;' (^to which decisive testimonies of un-
doubted aversion from the Romish Church, another is also
added in the postscript, his taking, when promoted to the
see of Durham, for his domestic chaplain. Dr. Nathaniel
Forster, who had published, not four years before, a
sermon, entitled, Popery destructive of the Evidence of
Christianity ;) proceeds to observe, ' That the natural
melancholy of the Bishops temper would rather have
fixed him amongst his first friends, than prompted him to
the change he made : That he read books of all sorts, as
well as books of mystic piety, and knew how to pick the
good that was in them out of the bad : that" his opinions
were exposed without reserve in his Analogy and his
sermons, and if the" doctrine of either be Popish or un-
scriptural, the learned world hath mistaken strangely in
admiring both : that instead of being a strict dissenter, he
never was a communicant in any dissenting assembly ; on
the contrary, that he went occasionally, from his early
years, to the established worship, and became a constant
conformist to it, when he was barely of age, and entered
himself, in 1714, of Oriel College: that his elevation to
great dignity in the Church, far from being sudden and
unexpected, was a gradual and natural rise, through a
variety of preferments, and a period of 3*2 years : that as
Bishop of Durham he had very little authority beyond his
brethren, and in ecclesiastical matters had none beyond
them ; a larger income than most of them he had ; but
this he employed, not, as was insinuated, in augmenting
the poir.p of worship in his cathedral, where indeed, it is
no greater than in others, but for the pui-poses of charity,
and in the repairing of his houses.' After these remarks,
the letter closes with these words : ' Upon the whole, few
accusations, so entirely groundless, have been so pertina-
ciously, 1 am unwilling to say maliciously, carried on, as

35S BUTLER.

the present ; and surely it is high time for the authors
and abettors of it, in mere common prudence, to shew
some regard, if not to truth, at least to shame.'

" It only remains to be mentioned, that the above
letters of Archbishop Seeker had such an effect on a writer
who signed himself in the St. James's Chronicle of
August 25, A dissenting Minister, that he declared it as
his opinion that ' the author of the pamphlet, called The
Root of Protestant Errors examined, and his friends,
were obHged in candour, in justice, and in honour, to re-
tract their charge, unless they could establish it on much
better grounds than had hitherto appeared ;' and he ex-
pressed his ' hopes that it would be understood that the
dissenters in general had no hand in the accusation, and
that it had only been the act of two or three mistaken
m.en.' Another person also, ' a foreigner by birth,' as he
says of himself, who had been long an admirer of Bishop
Butler, and had perused with great attention all that had
been written on both sides in the present controversy,
confesses he had been ' wonderfully pleased with ob-
serving, with what candour and temper, as well as clear-
ness and solidity, he was vindicated from the aspersions
laid against him.' All the adversaries of our prelate,
however, had not the virtue or sense to be thus convinced;
some of them still continued, under the signatures of Old
Martin, Latimer, An impartial Protestant, Paulinus,
Misonothos, to repeat their confuted falsehoods in the
public prints ; as if the curse of calumniators had fallen
upon them, and their memory, by being long a traitor to
truth, had taken at last a severe revenge, and compelled
them to credit their own lie. The first of these gentlemen,
Old Martin, who dates from N-c-est-e, May 29, from the
rancour and malignity with which his letter abounds, and
from the particular virulence he discovers towards the
characters of Bishop Butler and his defender, I conjecture
to be no other than the very person who had already
figured in this dispute, so early as the year 1752."

BUTLER. 853

It is impossible to read of this attempt to make over to
our opponents one of the greatest lights of our Church,
without being reminded of the following anecdote related
by Dean Tucker. " The late Bishop of Durham had a
singular notion respecting large communities and public
bodies ; a notion which is not perhaps altogether inappli-
cable to the present case. His custom was when at Bristol,
to walk for hours in his garden in the darkest night which
the time of the year could afford, and I had frequently
the honour to attend him. After walking some time he
would stop suddenly and ask the question, ' what security
is there against the insanity of individuals ? The physi-
cians know of none ; and as to divines, we have no data
either from Scripture or from reason, to go upon relative
to this affair.' ' True, my lord, no man has a lease of his
understanding, any more than of his life ; they are both
in the hands of the Sovereign Disposer of all things.' He
would then take another turn, and again stop short ; ' Why
might not whole communities and public bodies be seized
with fits of insanity, as well as individuals ?' ' My lord, I
have never considered the case, and can give no opinion
concerning it.' ' Nothing but this principle, that they are
liable to insanity, equally at least with private persons,
can account for the major part of those transactions of
which we read in history.' " I thought little," adds the
dean, "of that odd conceit of the Bishop at that juncture ;
but I own I could not avoid thinking of it a great deal
since, and applying it to many cases." — Butlers works.
Halifax, Bartlett.

BUTLER, ALBAN.

Alban Butler was born in Northampton, in 1710.
After passing a short time at a school in Lancashire, he
was sent, in his eighth year, to the English Roman
Catholic College at Douay, where he applied himself with
dihgence to his studies, and was remarkable for his early
VOL. in. 2 H

354 BUTLER.

piety. After completing his course, he was admitted an
alumnus, and appointed professor of philosophy, in lec-
turing on which he followed the Newtonian system, then
gaiuing ground in the foreign universities, in preference
to the systems of Wolf and Leibnitz, in which he dis-
covered some things irreconcilable with the opinions of
the Church. He was next appointed professor of divinity,
and while at this College published his first work. Letters
on the History of the Popes, published by Mr. Archibald
Bower. Id this work he thus expresses himself on the
celebrated questions, of the Infallibility of the Pope and
his right to the deposing power : "Mr. Bower having been
educated in the (Roman) Catholic schools, could not but
know, that, though some private divines think that the
Pope, by the assistance of some special providence, cannot
err in the decisions of faith solemnly published by him,
with the mature advice of his council, or of the clergy or
divines of his Church, yet, that this is denied by others ;
and that the learned Bossuet and many others, especially
of the school of Sorbon, have written warmly against that
opinion ; and that no (Roman) Catholic looks upon it as
an article or term of communion. It is the infallibility of
the whole Church, whether assembled in a general council,
or dispersed over the world, of which they speak in their
controversial disputations. Yet this writer, at every turn,
confounds these two things together, only to calumniate
and impose on the public. If he had proved that some
Popes had erred in faith, he would have no more defeated
the article of supremacy, than he would disinherit a king
by arraigning him of bad policy. The (Roman) Catholic
faith teaches the Pope to be the supreme pastor of the
Church established by Christ, and that this Church,
founded by Christ on a rock, shall never be overcome by
hell, or cease to be His true spouse. For He has promised,
that His true spirit shall direct it in all truth to the end of
the world. But Mr. Bower never found the infallibility
of the Pope in our creed ; and knows very well that no

BUTLER. 355

such article is proposed by the Church, or required of any
one. Therefore the whole chain of his boastings, which is
conducted through the work, falls to the ground.

" What he writes against the deposing power in Popes,
certainly cannot be made a reproach against the (Roman)
Catholics of England, France, Spain, &c. It is a doctrine
neither taught nor tolerated in any (Roman) Catholic
kingdom that I know of,' and which many (Roman) Ca-
tholics write as warmly against as Mr. Bower could
wish."

In 1745 he accompanied the late Earl of Shrewsbuiy,
and the Hon. John and Thomas Talbot in their travels
through France and Italy, of which he wrote a full account,
said to be entertaining aod interesting. On his return
from these travels he was sent on the English mission.
He had long been engaged on his laborious work, the
Lives of the Saints, and was then bringing it to a con-
clusion ; he naturally wished, therefore, to be settled in
London, where he might have access to literary society
and the public libraries, with a view to complete the
Lives of the Saints, on which he had long been engaged ;
but the vicar apostolic of the middle district claimed
him, as belonging to that district, and appointed him to a
mission in Staffordshire. This was a severe mortification
to him, and he remonstrated, but in vain ; the vicar
apostolic was inexorable, and required his immediate
obedience. Here, however, he did not remain long, being
appointed chaplain to Edward, Duke of Norfolk, and to
superintend the education of Mr. Edward Howard, his
nephew and presumptive heir, whom he accompanied
abroad. During his residence at Paris, he completed and
sent to press his Lives of the Saints, which is said to have
cost him the labour of thirty years. In the first edition,
at the suggestion of Mr. Challoner, the vicar apostolic of
the London district, the notes were omitted. The notion
of the vicar apostolic was, that by being less bulky, the
work might be less expensive, and consequently more
generally useful. It is easy to conjecture what it must

856 BUTLER.

have cost the obedient author to consign to oblivion
the fmit of so much labour. He obeyed, and the first
edition was published without the notes. From Butler s
want of critical discernment, his credulity, and the very
strong bias of his mind, which perverts the meaning of
early writers, when their sentiments stand directly opposed
to the dogmas of the modern Church of Rome, this work
cannot be regarded as in any respect a work of authority.
It is much to be regretted that it is so much read by the
less learned of English churchmen, who may be led astray
by the many false statements which the author, through
prejudice, and sometimes through want of scholai-ship,
has unintentionally made ; — unintentionally, for he was
too good a man intentionally to deceive, — but he could not
believe that any ancient saint could utter sentiments not
accordant with modern Romanism, and he doubtless mis-
represented their opinions to himself, before he misrepre-
sented them to others. Some years after, he published
the life of Mary of the Cross, a nun in the English
convent of the poor Clares at Rouen.

Some time after his return to England from his travels
w4th Mr. Edward Howard, he was chosen president of the
English College at St. Omer, in which station he continued
till his death. Some interesting anecdotes are given of
him while in this station, in a letter from L'Abbe de la
Sepouze to Charles Butler, his nephew and biographer.
Speaking of himself he says, " Monsieur de Conzie, now
Bishop of Arras, having been raised to the see of St. Omer
in 1766, caused me to be elected a canon in his cathedral
church ; he nominated me one of his vicars-general, and I
repaired thither on the 5th of October, 1767.

"That prelate, whose high reputation dispenses with
my encomiums, mentioned your uncle to me, on the very
day of my arrival. ' I am here possessed,' said he, ' of a
hidden treasure, and that is Mr. Butler; the president of
the English College. I for the first time saw him,' added
he, 'during the ceremony of my installation. He was
kneeling on the pavement in the midst of the crowd ; his

BUTLER. 35-7

countenance and deportment had something heavenly in
them : I enquired who he was ; and upon his being named
to me, I caused him, though reluctant, to be conducted to
one of the first stalls in the choir. I will entreat him,'
said moreover the prelate, ' to favour you with his friend-
ship ; he shall be your counsel, you cannot have a better.'
I made answer, that IMonsieur de Beaumont, the illustri-
ous Archbishop of Paris, in whose palace I had enjoyed
the invaluable benefit of passing two years, had often
spoken of him to me in the most honourable terms ;
that he had commissioned me, at my departure, to renew
to him the assurance of his particular esteem ; and
that I would neglect nothing to be thought worthy of his
benevolence.

"I was so happy as to succeed in it within a short time.
His lordship the Bishop condescended to wish me joy of
it, and entrusted me with the design he had formed, of
honouring the assembly of his vicars-general by making
him our colleague. I was present when he delivered to
him his credentials ; which moment will never forsake my
remembrance. I beheld your dear uncle suddenly casting
himself at the prelate's knees, and beseeching him, with
tears in his eyes, not to lay that burden upon him. 'Ah !
my lord,' said he to him, ' I am unable to fill so important
a place ;' nor did he yield but upon an express command :
' Since you require it shall be so,' said he, ' I vdW obey ; that
is the first of ray duties.' What an abundant source of
reflections was this for me, who was then but twenty-six
years of age. It was then especially that I resolved to
make up for my inexperience, by taking him for my guide
who had been giving me that great example of Christian
humility.

" The Bishop had already shewed him his confidence,
by placing his own nephew in the English College, as also
that of the Bishop of Senlis, his friend and the son of one
of his countrymen. I had the charge of visiting them fre-
quently. I used to send for them, to dine with me on
2h -2

358 BUTLER.

every school holiday. If one of them had been guilty of a
fault, the punishment I inflicted was, that he should desire
Mr. Butler to keep him at home. But it almost always
proved useless ; he would himself bring me the delinquent,
and earnestly solicit his pardon; 'Depend upon it,' said he
to me one day, ' he will behave better for the future.' I
asked him what proof he had of it. ' Sir,' answered he, in
the presence of the lad, 'he has told me so.' I could not
forbear smiling at such confidence in the promises of a
school-boy of ten years old ; but was not long before I
repented. In a private conversation he observed to me,
that one of the most important rules in education is to
impress children with a persuasion that the vices we would
keep them from, such as lying, and breaking one s word,
are too shocking to be thought possible. A maxim this,
worthy of the great Fenelon, his beloved model, and which
common tutors do not so much as surmise."

He had projected many works besides those already
mentioned, and among them, his treatise on the Moveable
Feasts, which was published after his death. He proposed
■writing the lives of Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More,
and had made copious collections for both. He had begun
a treatise on Natural and Revealed Religion, being dissatis-
fied with what Bergier had published on those subjects.
Three volumes of his discourses have been published since
his decease. His literary correspondence was very exten-
sive, and among other correspondents of distinction, may
be mentioned the learned Lambertini, afterwards Pope
Benedict XIV., and the late Dr. Lowth, Bishop of London;
and the assistance he afforded to Englishmen of literature
has been liberally acknowledged by Dr. Kennicott, and
others. He died in 1773. His Lives of the Saints was
first published in 1745, 5 vols, 4to; and in 1779, or 1780,
an edition was published at Dublin, in 12 vols, 8vo ; and
in 1799, 1800, at Edinburgh, in the same form, to which
his nephew, Charles Butler, Esq., barrister-at-law, prefixed
an account of his life. Many editions have been subse-

BUTLER. 359

quentlj published, and some of them remarkable for their
cheapness. — Lives of the Saints with Life of Charles Butler
prefixed.

BUTLER, CHARLES.

Charles Butler was born in 1559, at High Wycomb,
in Buckinghamshire, and entered a commoner at
Magdalen Hall, Oxford, in 1579, where he took a degree
in arts, and was afterwards elected one of the Bible Clerks
of Magdalen College. Soon after he became master of the
free school at Basingstoke, in Hampshire, and was curate
of a small parish in the neighbourhood. Here lie remain-
ed for about seven years. About 1600 he was promoted
to the vicarage of Lawrence Wotton, in Hampshire, where
he remained until his death, in 1647. He wrote — 1. The
Feminine Monarchy" or a Treatise on Bees, Oxon. 1609,
8vo, and Lond. 1623, Oxon. 1634, 4to ; a work not more
curious for its matter than for the manner of printing,
abounding in new characters, and a very singular mode of
orthography. It was afterwards translated into Latin by
Richard Richardson, of Emmanuel College, Cambridge,
Lond. 1673, 8vo, and is quoted by Dr. Johnson in the
preface to his dictionary. "2. Rhetoricae Libri duo, Oxon.
1618; often reprinted. 3. De Propinquitate Matrimo-
nium impediente Regula Generalis, (on the marriage of
cousin-germans,) a work much approved by Dr. Prideaux,
Oxon. 1625, 4to. 4. Oratorias Libri duo, Oxon. 1633,
4to, Lond. 1635, 8vo. 5. English Grammar, Oxon. 1634,
4to. 6. The Principles of Music, Lond. 1636, 4to. This
last is highly praised by Dr. Bumey in his History of
Music. — Ath. Ox. Fuller.

butler, JOHN.

John Butler was born at Hamburgh in 1717. He
was a popular London preacher, but was chiefly known as

360 BUXTORF.

a political writer, and though he never graduated at either
university, rose from being chaplain to the King and pre-
bendary of Winchester to be Bishop of Oxford, in 177T,
from whence he removed to Hereford where he died in
1802. What his character was may be gathered from the
fact that the Letters of Junius were, though without foun-
dation, at one time ascribed to him. He published some
occasional sermons and charges. — Gen. Bloc/ : Diet.

BUXTOEF, JOHN.

John Buxtorf was born in 1564 at Camen in Westpha-
lia. He was a Calvinist, and became a minister at Basle,
where he was also a professor of the Hebrew and Chaldean
languages. He availed himself during his studies of the
assistance of the ablest Jews, and from them he acquired
a fondness for rabbinical learning. His first publication
was, Synagoge Judaica, printed at Basle, in German,
1603 ; and at Hanau, in Latin, 1604. His next work was
an Epitome Radicum Hebraicarum, &c., Bas. 1607 ; and
in the same year his Lexicon Hebraicum, &c. ; in 1609,
his Thesaurus Grammaticus Linguae Hebr. ; followed, in
1610, by his Institutio Epistolar. Hebraic, published for
the benefit of those who might wish to correspond in
Hebrew. To this succeeded his treatise De Abbreviaturis
Hebraeorum, &c., Bas. 1613; and in 1618 appeared his
Hebrew Bible, in 4 folio vols ; accompanied with the re-
marks of Ptabbio interpreters, Chaldaic paraphrases, and
the Massorah. To this is generally added the Tiberias,
published by his grandson, at Basle, in 1665, which is a
commentary on the Massorah, and contains an explanation
of the terms used in it, according to the interpretation of
Elias the Levite. After his death was published, likewise,
his Lexicon Chaldaicum, in 1639 ; and in the very year of
his decease, his Concordantise Hebraicae. He died Sept.
13, 1629. — Moreri. Saxii Onomast. Baillet Jugemens.

BYAM. 361

BUXTOEF, JOHN.

John Buxtorf, son of the above, was bom at Basil in
1599. He succeeded his father in the professorship ; and
defended the antiquity of the Hebrew vowel points with
great zeal against Capellus, in a book entitled, Tractatus
de punctorum vocaUum et accentuum in libris Veteris
Testamenti HebraicisB origine, antiquitate, and auctoritate,
1648. He pubUshed, likewise, a Hebrew, Chaldaic, and
Syriac Lexicon and Grammar, in 1622 ; and after writing
various dissertations on diflferent points of Jewish litera-
ture, died August 16, 1664. It is to him we owe a trans-
lation of the Moreh Nevochim of Maimonides, printed at
Basle, 1629, and of some other rabbinical works ; amongst
which is the Liber Cosri, in Hebrew and Latin, Basle,
1622, where the Hebrew is said to be the translation of a
lost Arabic work. He had partly prepared for the press a
collection of the passages wherein the Greek Septuagint
differs from the Hebrew. But his death, which occurred
in 1664, prevented his completing his design. The two
Buxtorfs are severely censured by Father Simon, but are
as highly praised by other Hebrew scholars. — Moreri.
Fraheri Theatrum. Saxii Onomast.

BYAM, HENRY.

Henry Byam was bom at East Luckham, of which
place his father was rector, in the year 1580. The follow-
ing account of him is given by Walker, in his Sufferings
of the Clergy :

" He was sent first to Exeter College in Oxford, and
thence elected student of Christ Church. Upon the death
of his father, about the year 1612, he succeeded in
Luckham; and March 17th, 1631, (on the death of
Sampson Strode) was collated to a prebend in this church.
About that time also he served the clergy of Somersetshire
in convocation. Upon the breaking out of the Rebellion

362 BYAM.

he was seized by Blake (then a captain of dragoons, after-
wards Oliver's general at sea^l and was the first person so
used, for his majesty's service. After some time of im-
prisonment, he made his escape, and fled to his majesty
at Oxford ; and was made D.D. there. He had at that
time raised both men and horses for the King's service,
and engaged his five sons in the same most righteous
cause. His whole income, as well spiritual as temporal,
was by that means exposed to rapine, plunder, and seques-
tration, his children to distress and danger, and himself
to many grievous shifts and exigencies. His wife and
daughter were left at home, and being perpetually har-
rassed by the rebels, were at last constrained to fly for
Wales ; which attempting by sea, they were both lost,
together with all the remainder of what treasure the
barbarous ravagers had spared, or rather had been con-
cealed from them. Of his sons, four were captains in the
service ; and some of them honourably lost their lives in
it. When Prince Charles fled out of England, first to
Scilly, and afterwards to Jersey, this excellent doctor
attended him, and was left as his chaplain at the castle of
Elizabeth, in the last-mentioned island ; where he re-
mained till it was taken by the parliament ; and from
that time till the Restoration, he lived in a poor obscure
condition. However, he survived all those miseries, and
upon the Restoration was made canon of this church (in
the room of Edward Cotton deceased, to which dignity
he was admitted September 15th, 1660) and prebendary
of Wells. He died at Luckham, June 16th, 1669, in the
89th year of his age. He was, saith Wood, whilst young,
one of the greatest ornaments of the university, and the
most noted person there for his excellent and polite
learning ; and was afterwards looked upon as the most
acute and eminent preacher of his age. He bore his
sufferings with great patience; and was a person of so
much modesty, that it is well known, would he have sought
after it, he might have died a Bishop, which honourable
function he really deserved, not only for sanctity of life,

BZOVIUS. 363

but for learning, charity, and loyalty, scarce to be equalled
by any in the age he lived. He was succeeded in his
prebend by Francis Moor, A.M., who was collated to it
June 19th, 1669, and in his canonry by Oliver Naylor,
elecv.d to it the '^6th of the same month and year."

BZOVIUS, ABEAHAM.

Abeaham Bzovius was born at Prosovity, in Poland, in
1567. Thomas Ostola, his father, and Magdalene Vesicia,
his mother, died before he was a year old, and he was
educated by his grandmother on the mother's side. He
made such progress under the instruction of one of his
uncles, that at ten years old he could write Latin, compose
in music, and make verses. After this, he went to con-
tinue his studies at Cracow, and there took the habit of a
Dominican. Being sent into Italy, he read some lectures
of philosophy at Milan, and of divinity at Bologna. After
he returned into his own country, he preached in Posnania
and in Cracow, with the applause of all his hearers ; and
taught philosophy and divinity. He was principal of a
college of his own order. He founded a fraternity of the
Piosaria; he consecrated a chapel to the image of St. Mary
the great, which he brought from Piome to Cracow; be
furnished the libraiy of the Dominicans with a great
number of books ; he pacified Poland ; he caused the
church of St. Hyacenthus to be built in Warsaw, and
rendered other services to his country, but especially to
the Dominican order, to the interests of which he was
attached with bigotry. At the same time he astonished
the world by the fecundity of his pen. Some persons
maintain that it is no hyperbole to say that he composed
more books than others have read. Two pages folio could
hardly contain the titles only of his works. His chief
work is the continuation of Baronius, — a work extendiug
to twelve folio volumes, of which the first eight appeared
at Cologne, between 1616 and 1635. These brought down
the history of the Church from the end of the pontificate

364 BZOVIUS.

of Celestine III, when Baronius concluded, to the year
1564. Another volume appeared after the author's death,
in 1672, which continued the history to 1572. But no
more was published. Though written on the same prin-
ciples as those adopted by Baronius, it has been almost
universally regarded as inferior to the work it was designed
to continue. It never enjoyed any high degree of reputa-
tion. In one thing he especially resembled Baronius,
namely, in his ser\dle attachment to the interests of the
court of Rome, and therefore when he went to Rome he
was received with distinction by the Pope, and lodged in
the Vatican. Nevertheless, his inconsiderate and violent
zeal occasioned him to take steps of which he had reason
to repent. He had treated with severity the memory of the
Emperor Lewis of Bavaria, and erased him ignominiously
out of the catalogue of emperors. The duke of Bavaria
was so incensed at this audaciousness, that, not satisfied
with causing an apology to be written for that emperor,
he brought an action in form against the annalist, and had
him condemned to make a public recantation. Bzovius
did not escape for this disgrace : he was severely treated
in the apology of Lewis of Bavaria, published by George
Herwart ; who affirms, that Bzovius had not acted in his
annals like a man of honesty, or wit, or judgment, or
memory, or any other good quality of a writer. Indeed
he has been treated quite as severely by Roman Catholic
as by Protestant writers. The Franciscans and the
Jesuits were especially provoked with him, and their
hostility was more formidable than that of the duke. His
partiality to his own order was such, that some persons
have regarded his, as the history rather of the Dominicans
than of the Church.

Bzovius quitted his residence at the Vatican a short
time before his deatli, and retired to the convent of
Minerva at Rome, terrified by the murder of one of his
servants, and mortified by the loss of a large sum of
money, which the murderer carried off. He died in the
year 1637. Moreri. BayU. Bowling.

CABASILAS. 365

CABASILAS, MLUS.

KiLUS Cabastlas was x\rchbishop of Thessalonica in the
fourteenth century, under the empire of the Andronicus
dynasty. He \Yr()te two treatises against the Latins ; the
first to make it appear, that the cause of the division of the
Greeks and Latins, arises from this, that the Pope is not
willing that any controverted question should be decided
by the judgment of an (Ecumenical Council ; but will be
the sole judge, and othei*s must hearken to him, as their
master. He demonstrates by the examples of ancient
Popes, by the usage of the Church, and by divers reasons,
that it is seasonable to call a council ; and that it is the
only expedient to settle union, and to decide the question
about the procession of the Holy Ghost. The second trea-
tise is of the Pope's primacy, in which he proves that the
Pope holds his primacy by laws, councils, and princes. He
there asserts that the Pope is not infallible, and proves it
by the example of Honorius. He grants him the primacy
of honour ; but he proves that he has no jurisdiction over
other patriarchs, seeing he does not ordain them. He
observes, that the right of appeal gives him no authority
over other patriarchs, seeing the patriarch of Constan-
tinople hath the same right over the patriarchates, wherein
he hath no jurisdiction, according to the ninth canon of
the fourth general council. He shews, that it is not true,
that the Pope cannot be judged by any person, or that he
is of an order more sublime than the Bishops ; that he is
subject to councils and canons ; that he is not properly
speaking Bishop of the whole world ; that the see of Kome
is not the only one that may be called apostolic ; that it
belongs not to him alone to call a general council ; and
that if canons cannot be made without him, neither can
he make any without others. These treatises of Nilus
are written, says Dupin, in a good method, clearness, and
full of learning. They were at first printed in Greek at
London without a date, in Greek and Latin at Basil in

VOL. 111. 2 I

366 CABASILAS.

1544, at Frankfort in 1555, and with the notes of Salma-
sius at Haynault in 1608, and in his treatise of the pri-
macy of the Pope, printed at Amsterdam in 1645. Nilus
also puhlished a work on the procession of the Holy Ghost
against the Latins, divided into nine and forty books, of
which Allatius makes mention in his dissertation of the
Nilus.

His second treatise was translated into English by
Thomas Gressop, student in Oxford, under the title of
A Treatise containing a Declaration of the Pope's usui-ped
Primacy, &c. 8vo. 1560. This distiDguished opponent of
Popery and firm advocate of the Catholic Church in the
east died in 1350. — Dupin. Leo Allatius in diatribe de
Nilis et eonmi scriptis.

CABASILAS, NICHOLAS.

Nicholas Cabasilas was the nephew of Nilus, whom
he immediately succeeded as Archbishop of Thessalonica
in 1350, under John Cantacuzenus. He was, like his
uncle, a strong opponent of Popery, and wrote several
treatises, in which he shewed how entirely without founda-
tion are the extravagant pretensions of that arrogant
Church to supremacy and infallibility. He also made an
exposition of the liturgy, in which he treats of the Holy
Communion, its parts and its ceremonies : although he
did not hold the Piomish dogma of tran substantiation, he
observes that the effect of the celebration of the holy mys-
teries, is the changing, (sacramentally) of the elements
into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ ; that the end is
the sanctification of the faithful, the remission of sins,
and the kingdom of heaven ; that the preparation and the
means are prayer, singing of psalms, and reading the
Holy Scriptures, and all that is done before or after the
consecration of the elements. He shews the necessity of
those prayers, and explains the ceremonies of the oblation,

CABASILAS. 367

which precedes the receiving ; why, but one part of the
host is given ; why, the sign of the cross is made upon the
host at the mention of the death of Jesus Christ ; of the
thanksgiving after the oblation ; of the prayers of the
mass ; of presenting the sacred elements on the altar : of
the sanctification of these elements : he attacks the Latins
upon this subject, and asserts that it is not by the sole
virtue of the words of Jesus Christ that the consecration
is made, but by prayer. He says, that the sacrifice con-
sists in this, that the bread, which was not sacrificed,
becomes the Body of Jesus Christ sacrificed. He explains
in what sense the saints are prayed for in the liturgy, by
observing that those prayers are thanksgivings, and that
we rather pray them to help us by their prayers ; but that
the priest prays for himself, and for the living, and for
the protection of a good guardian angel. He adds, that at
the elevation of the host, he says, Sancta Sanctis, to sig-
nify that saints only ought to partake of those mysteries.
He renders a reason of the usage of the Greeks, who
mingle warm water in the chalice before the communion.
He affirms, that this ceremony implies the descent of the
Holy Ghost. He speaks of the communion and the .
prayer said after it. In fine, he affirms that the sacrifice
is oSered for the dead, as well as for the living, as to the
effect of the intercession, but not as to the participation.
He treats of the effects of the communion, and chiefly of
the internal sanctification of the soul, or of the spiritual
communion, by which Jesus Christ imparts himself spirit-
ually to such, as are worthy to receive him, a communion,
which is more complete in the saints after their death,
than in the living. He enlarges upon the commemoration
of the saints.

His works are — 1. This treatise, entitled Compendiosa
Interpretatio in Divinum Officium, which was published
at Paris, 1524, by Fronton du Due. A Latin version of
it, by Gentian Hervet, was published at Venice in 1548.
2. A Treatise on the Procession of the Holy Ghost, against
the Latins : this was printed in Latin, Venice, 1545 ;

368 CABASSOLE.

Antwerp, 1560 ; and in Greek and Latin in the Biblio-
theca Patrum. 3. A Life of Jesus Christ ; a Latin version
of this was pubhshed by Pontanus, Ingolstadt, 1604, 4to.
He also wrote a commentary on the third book of the
Almagest of Ptolemy, and is said to have surpassed all
his contemporaries in geometrical and astronomical skill.
— Diqnn. Leo Allatim.

CABASSOLJE, PHILIP DE.

Phiupde CABASSOLE,born at Cavaillon, in Provence, was
descended from an illustrious family connected with the
house of Anjou, where he became, at twelve years of age,
a canon of the cathedral, archdeacon in 1330, and Bishop
in 1334. He w^as also honoured with the rank of chan-
cellor to Sancha, Queen of Sicily, by her husband Robert,
in 1341, and jointly with that princess was regent during
the minority of Joan her grand- daughter. In 1345, after
the murder of Andrew, King of Hungary, an event which
deeply affected him, he returned to Avignon. In 1358
he was sent as nuncio by the Pope to demand from the
clergy of Germany a tithe of the ecclesiastical revenues of
that country, but failed in the object of his mission. In
1361 he was appointed titular patriarch of Jerusalem,
and in 1366 he had the charge of the bishopric of Mar-
seilles; and at last, in 1368, Pope Urban V. raised
him to the rank of cardinal, and vicar-general spiritual
and temporal in the diocese of Avignon ; and while the
Popes resided at Avignon, Gregory XI. made him super-
intendent of the papal territory in Italy. He wrote
a treatise, De Nugis Curialium, and some sermons.
Dupin says, that in the library of St. Victor, there are two
books of the life and miracles of St. Mary Magdalene
which bear the name of this Cardinal. He is known in
the history of literature as the friend of Petrarch, to whom
the poet dedicated his treatise on a Solitary Life, and
addressed many of his letters. He died at Pesugia in
1371,

CAIET. 369

CABASSUT, JOHN.

John Cabassut was born in 1604 at Aix in Provence.
At an early age he entered the congregation, and after his
ordination became celebrated as a priest of the oratory.
He was a professor of the Canon Law at Avignon, and
died on the ^Sth of September, 1685, at Aix. He was
regarded by the Galilean Church as a bright example of
humility, of self-mortification, and of disinterestedness.
He desired to publish several works, but his time was too
much occupied as a confessor and a spiritual adviser to
enable him to fulfil his intentions. His chief works are,
Juris Canonici Theoria et Praxis, published at Lyons,
1675, of which there have been many editions; and An
Account of the Ecclesiastical History of the Councils and
Canons in Latin also, published in 1685. — Moreri.

CAIET, PETEE V[CT0K PALMA.

Peter VicTOPt Palma Caiet was born in 1525, at
Montrichard, in Tourraine, and was educated under the
celebrated Piamus at Paris. He was supported there by
the generosity of a friend of the family, who embraced the
reformed religion, and in doing so was imitated by Caiet.
Cai@t visited Geneva, and afterwards studied divinity
under the Protestant professors of Germany. He after-
wards was brought under the notice of Catherine of
Bourbon, sister of Henry IV., to whom he was appointed
preacher. He attended her to Paris, and there he had
a controversy with Du Perron, during which was mani-
fested his inclination to return to the Church of Ptome.
The Calvinists immediately acted as Calvinists and Ultra-
protestants too often do, and made the discovery that he,
who up to this time had been the subject of their eulogy,
was now a compound of every thing bad in human nature.
They accused him of having practised magical arts. The
Calvinists must indeed have been hard pressed when they
2i2

370 CAJETAN.

resorted to such an accusation, which is indeed fully
disproved by the dedication prefixed to his Histoire
prodigieuse et lamentabile du Docteur Fauste, grand
Magicien. They also accused him of having written a
book in favour of public brothels : but it is remarkable
that of this book they never could produce a copy, and we
may conclude therefore, that, as a copy was never seen by
friend or foe, the book had never any existence. He
abjured the principles of Calvinism publicly before the
university of Paris, on the 9th of November, 1595. A
residence was assigned him in the monastery of St. Martin
des Champs, from which he removed in 1601, to the
college of Navarre, at Paris. In this college he was
appointed professor of Hebrew and the Oriental languages.
He was also a doctor of the Sorbonne. He died in 1610.
Henry IV. greatly befriended him, and gave him a small
estate in the country, suited to the habits and inclinations
of one devoted to literary occupations. After his recanta-
tion, he had a controversy with Du Moulin, against whose
book, the Waters of Siloam, Caiet published an answer,
entitled the Fiery Furnace, and the Reverberatory Furnace,
for evaporating the pretended Waters of Siloam, and for
strengthening the Fire of Purgatory, against the Heresies,
Calumnies, Falsehoods, and vain Cavils of the pretended
minister Du Moulin, Paris, 1603, 8vo. He left several
controversial pieces ; but his most popular work is his
Chronologic septenaire, 1606, 8vo, from the peace of
Vervins in 1598 to 1604, Paris, 1605, 8vo. The reception
which this work met with induced him to add to the
history of the peace that of the war that went before it.
We have this additional history in the three vols, of his
Chronologic novenaire, 1608, 8vo, from 1589 to 1598. —
Moreri. Dwpin.

CAJETAN.

Cajetan, whose proper name was Thomas de Vio,
named Cajetan from the place of his nativity, was born

CAJETAN. 871

at Cajeta, in the kingdom of Naples, in the year 1460.
At the age of fifteen he entered the order of St. Dominic,
in which his learning and genius obtained for him a
distinguished reputation ; and having taken a doctor's
degree when he was about twenty-two years of age, he
taught philosophy and divinity at Brescia, Paris, Pavia,
and Rome. He went regularly through all the honours of
his order till, in 1508, he was made general of it; which
office he exercised for ten years. In 1517 he was made a
cardinal by Leo X. in consequence of the zeal with which
he defended the papal pretensions in his work entitled,
Of the Power of the Pope. In 1518 he was sent as a
legate into Germany, to move the emperor to make war
against the Turks, and to quell the commotions which
Luther had raised by his opposition to Leo's indulgences.
It is indeed from the fact of his sitting in judgment upon
Martin Luther that Cajetan obtains a place in ecclesiastical
histoiy. Luther having been summoned before an
ecclesiastical court in Home, had exerted all his influence
to have his cause tried in Germany. He succeeded, and
was summoned to Augsburg, where he appeared before
Cardinal Cajetan. The conduct of Cajetan on the occasion
was kind and courteous, though it does not impress one
with the idea of his being a man of any great powers of
mind. He sat as a judge, and should not have permitted
Luther to draw him into a discussion. That he failed in
discussion is not to be wondered at, for his cause, that of
papal indulgences, was incapable of defence, and he en-
countered in Luther the mightiest intellect of the age.
Luther approached him as his superior and judge. Ac-
cording to Roman etiquette, he prostrated himself before
the cardinal ; when the latter told him to rise, he knelt ;
and when the command was repeated, he stood erect.
After a pause, Luther addressed him, saying, " Most
worthy father, upon the summons of his holiness the Pope,
and at the desire of my gracious Lord, the Elector of
Saxony, I appear before you as a humble and obedient
son of the Holy Catholic Church ; and I acknowledge it

3Ta CAJETAN.

was I who published the propositions and thesis that
are the subject of enquiry. I am ready to Hsten with all
submission to the charges brought against me; and if I
am in error, to be instructed in the truth." The cardinal
in a paternal spirit replied, " My dear son, you have filled
all Germany with commotion with your indulgences. I
hear that you are a doctor well skilled in the Scriptures,
and that you have many followers. If, therefore, you
wish to be a member of the Church, and to have in the
Pope a gracious lord, listen to me." He then required
him, 1. To acknowledge his faults, retract his errors,
propositions, and serm.ons ; 2. To abstain from propagating
his opinions ; and, 3. To avoid every thing that would
disturb the peace of the Church.

Luther seems to have questioned the legate's authority,
and surprised the assembly by demanding a sight of the
Pope's brief under which he acted, and when this was
refused, he quietly said, " Deign to inform me wherein I
have^erred." This led to a conversation, not only on the
doctrine of indulgences, but on that of the Sacraments ;
in which Luther had so clearly the best of the argument,
that the legate appears to have lost his temper, and to
have resumed the position from which he had permitted
himself to be led, of the magistrate dealing with one who
acknowledged that he had committed w^hat the court
regarded as a crime, though he was prepared to contend
that in so regarding it the court was in error. The
cardinal said : " I am not come here to argue with you ;
retract, or prepare to endure the punishment you have
deserved." Luther, perceiving that he could not argue
upon an equality, thought it the most prudent plan to
answer the cardinal in w^riting ; by which means, if the
court decided against him, the public would be able to
form a judgment whether the decision were a just one.
The cardinal, having offered him a safe conduct to Rome, if
he was unwilling to abide by his judgment, an offer which
Luther refused; he dismissed Luther with politeness and
a smile of compassion.

CAJETAN. 373

On the morrow, when Luther appeared, he read with a
firm voice the following declaration : " I declare that I
honour the holj Koman Church, and moreover, that I will
continue to do so. I have sought after truth in mj public
disputations, and what I have I regard to this hour as
right, true, and Christian. Nevertheless, I am but a man,
and may be mistaken. I am therefore willing to be
instructed where I have erred. I declare myself ready to
answer by word of mouth, or in writing, all the objections,
and all the charges that the illustrious legate may bring
against me. I declare myself willing to submit my thesis
to the decision of the four universities of Bale, Fribourg,
Louvain, and Paris, and to retract what they declare to be
erroneous ;" and he protested against the course adopted
by the legate who called upon him to retract, without first
convicting him of erroi\

This appeal to the universities was not agreeable to the
cardinal, who wished to have the honour of settling the
matter himself — he told Luther that he was ready to hear
him and exhort him as a father, while he evidently felt
that he had lowered himself by having entered into a
discussion. The cardinal insisted on a recantation, while
Luther contended that he had nothing to retract. The
discussion ended less amicably than on the preceding
day, Luther having carried his point, and persuaded the
cardinal to permit him to write his answer. His written
answer he read the next day, when he was betrayed into
considerable violence of language and manner, while, on
that occasion, and afterwards, the cardinal did all that in
him lay by conciliation and gentleness to make him re-
tract. The conference, as is well known, led to no results,
further than that of exposing the awful sin of the Roman
Church on the subject of indulgences. The cardinal was
taken by surprise at the sudden departure of Luther from
Augsburg, when he found that his presence was useless,
and Cajetan evidently suffered the pangs of disappointed
vanity. He had expected to cajole the reformer into sub-

374 CAJETAN.

mission, and to be hailed as the pacificator of Germany.
He failed.

Luther and Cajetan never met again, but D'Aubignyin
his interesting Romance on the History of the Reformation
of the 1 6th century, informs us that the reformer made a
jDowerful impression on the mind of the legate which was
never entirely effaced. How Monsieur DAubigny became
so well acquainted with the mind of Cardinal Cajetan, is
not known.

In 1519 Cajetan was made Bishop of Cajeta. He was
also employed in several important negotiations, for which
he was eminently fitted by his capacity for business, and
by his command of temper. In 1527 he was taken pri-
soner at the sacking of the city of Rome, but returned
thither in 1530. Sixtus Senensis tells us, that he was a
most subtle logician and admirable philosopher, and an
incomparable divine ; and Bossuet says that he was a man
of a fiery and impetuous spirit, better skilled in dialectics
than in ecclesiastical antiquities. He wrote commentaries
upon Aristotle's philosophy, and upon Thomas Aquinas s
theology. He gave a literal translation of all the books of
the Old and New Testaments from the originals, excepting
Solomon's Song and the Prophets, which he left unfinished,
and the Revelation of St. John, which he designedly omit-
ted, saying, that to explain that part of the New Testament
required an expositor, endued not only with learning, but
with the spirit of prophecy. Father Simon says of him,
that he " was very fond of translations of the Bible purely
literal ; being persuaded that the Scripture could not be
translated too literally, seeing that it is the pure word of
God. This cardinal, in his preface to the Psalms, largely
explains the method he observed in his translation of
that book ; and he affirms, that although he knew nothing
of the Hebrew, yet he had translated part of the Bible
word for word from it. For this purpose he made use of
two persons who understood the language well — the one a
Jew, the other a Christian, whom he desired to translate

CAJETAN. 375

the Hebrew words exactly according to the letter and
grammar, although their translation might appear to make
no sense at all." Cardinal Pallavacini, who looked upon
this as too bold, says, that Cajetan, " who has succeeded
to the admiration of the whole world in his other works,
got no reputation by what he did upon the Bible, because
he followed the prejudices of those who stuck close to the
Hebrew Grammar." But Simon is of opinion that he
" may in some measure be justified : for he did not," says
he, "pretend to condemn the ancient Latin translator, or
the other translators of the Bible ; but would only have
translations of the Bible to be made from the original as
literally as can be. because there are only these originals,
which can be called the pure word of God ; and because in
translations, which are not literal, there are always some
things which do not -thoroughly express the original."
These commentaries on the Holy Scriptures, which were
severely censured by the faculty of theology of Paris, were
published at Lyons in 5 vols, folio, 1639, with the author's
life, by Fonseca, prefixed. Cajetan died at Rome, in 1534.
— Sleldan. Mosheim. UAuhigny.

CAJETAX, CONSTANTINE.

CoxsTAXTiN'E Cajetan was bom at Syracuse, in 1560.
He is chiefly celebrated for the almost insane devotion
which he evinced towards the Benedictine order, of which
he was a member, claiming, as Benedictines, many who
were entirely unconnected with the order. He went so far
as to assert that John Gerson, and not Thomas a Kempis,
was the author of The Imitation of Christ. This involved
him in a long controversy with Piosweyde. Baronius
made gi'eat use in his annals of materials supplied by
Cajetan. He was secretary to Paul Y., and was appointed
librarian at the Vatican by Clement VIII. He died in
1650. — Bujnn. Moreri.

376 CALAMY.

CALAMY, EDMUND.

Edmund Calamy was bora in 1600, and was educated
at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. He was afterwards chap-
lain to the Bishop of Ely, Dr. Feltham, who presented
him to the vicarage of St. Mary's in Swaffham-Prior.
At the death of the Bishop he became one of the lecturers
of St. Edmund s Bury, in Suffolk. It is stated by some
writers that during the ten years of his being lecturer at
this place he was mindful of his ecclesiastical vows, and
dutifully conformed to the Church. But that he did thus
observe his vows, and conform, is denied by others, and
indeed, without apparent compunction of conscience by
himself. His diocesan. Bishop Wren, like the present
learned Bishop of London, directed his clergy to observe
the orders and ceremonies of the Church ; and the writer
of a Tract called " Sober Sadness," ssljs, "that Mr. Calamy
complied with Bishop Wren, his diocesan, preached in his
surplice and hood, read prayers at the rails, bowed at the
name of Jesus, and undertook to satisfy and reduce such
as scrupled those ceremonies." The same assertion was
made by Mr. Henry Beeston in 1646, to whose work
Mr. Calamy replied : and in his reply he affirms, '* that
during the time he was at St. Edmund's Bury, he never
bowed to, or towards the altar, to, or towards the east,
never read that wicked book of sports upon the Lord's day,
never read prayers at the high altar, at the upper end of
the Church, where people could not hear." It seems hard
not to believe a man when he publishes his own disgrace,
and glories in it. When Non-conformity became popular
there is no doubt that he was a Non-conformist, and be-
came a violent assailant of the Church ; he was one of the
writers of a " Humble Remonstrance, &c., published by
Smectymnuus," which, with the vanity of an author, he
described as giving the first deadly blow at episcopacy.
But deadly as the blow was, episcopacy still survives, and
among the modern Puritans is even popular. The word
Smectymnuus is composed of the initial letters of its

CALAMY. S7T

authors names, Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy,
Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William Spur-
stow. It may be doubted whether any thing which has of
late years issued from the press of the religious world,
has surpassed, or even equalled this work in fierceness of
spirit, or severity of language. It concludes with an
appendix, in which is contained an historical narration of
those bitter fruits, pride, rebellion, treason, unthankful-
ness, &c., which have issued from episcopacy, while it hath
stood under the continual influences of sovereign good-
ness.' The whole ends thus, ' The inhuman butcheiies,
blood-sheddings, and cmelties of Gardiner, Bonner, and
the rest of the Bishops in Queen Mary s days, are so fresh
in every man's memory, as that we conceive it a thing
altogether unnecessary to make mention of them. Only
we fear lest the guilt of the blood then shed, should yet
remain to be required'at the hands of this nation, because
it hath not publicly endeavoured to appease the wrath of
God, by a solemn and general humiliation for it. What
the practices of the prelates have been ever since, from
the beginning of Queen Elizabeth to this very day, would
fill a volume like Ezekiels roll, with lamentation, mourn-
ing, and woe to record. For it hath been their great
design to hinder all further reformation : to bring in doc-
trines of Popery, Arminianism, and Libertinism, to main-
tain, propagate, and much increase the burden of human
ceremonies, to keep out and beat down the preaching of
the word, to silence the faithful preachers of it, to oppose
and persecute the most zealous professoi-s, and to turn all
religion into a pompous outside : and to tread down the
power of godliness. Insomuch, as it is come to an ordi-
nary proverb, that when any thing is spoiled, we used to
say. The Bishop's foot is in it. x\nd in all this, and
much more which might be said, fulfilling Bishop Bonner's
prophecy, who, when he saw, that in King Edward's
Reformation, there was a reservation of ceremonies and
hierarchy, is credibly reported to have used these words :

YOL. III. 2 K

378 CALAMY.

* Since they have begun to taste our broth, it will not he
long ere thej taste our beef.'"

Archdeacon Echard says, that he afterwards became
" an incendiary, a promoter of rebellion, and of the bring-
ing in of the Scots ;" and by the sermons of Calamy, the
assertions of the archdeacon are fully proved.

His views became more moderate when the Indepen-
dents supplanted the Presbyterians ; and he has the
honour of being one of the Presbyterians who remonstrat-
ed against the murder of King Charles the Martyr. He
seems to have come to the opinion, that a Churchman
would make a better King than an Independent. The
following story, which Harry Neville, who was one of the
council of state, asserted of his own knowledge, is a full
proof of this, and at the same time a very curious passage
in itself. " Cromwell having a design to set up himself,
and bring the crown upon his own head, sent for some of
the chief city divines, as if he made it a matter of con-
science to be determined by their advice. Among these
was the leading Mr. Calamy, who very boldly opposed the
project of Cromwell's single government, and offered to
prove it both unlawful and impracticable. Cromwell an-
swered readily upon the first head of unlawful, and
appealed to the safety of the nation being the supreme
law : but, says he, pray Mr. Calamy, why impracticable ?
He replied ; oh it is against the voice of the nation, there
will be nine in ten against you. Very well, says Crom-
well ; but what if I should disarm the nine, and put the
sword in the tenth man's hand, would not that do the
business."

On the Restoration he was offered a bishopric, — an un-
principled proceeding — by which Charles, in the true spirit
of simony, sought to bring over the Presbyterians. Much
to his credit. Dr. Calamy refused the bribe, and continued
a Non-conformist, though attending his parish church as
a layman. His character in his old age seems to have
softened. He died in October, 1666, a short time after
the fire of London.

CALAMY. 379

Besides the pieces already mentioned, Calamy published
several single sermons, preached on different occasions,
and five sermons, entitled, The Godly Man's Ark, or a
City of Refuge in the Day of his Distress, the eighth
edition of which was printed at London, 1(583, in 12mo.
He had a share in drawing up the Vindication of the
Presbyterian Goveinment and Ministry, London, 1 650 ;
and the Jus Divinum Ministerii Evangelici Anglicani,
printed in 1654. — Edmund Calamy s Autobiography and
Lives. Wood.

CALAMY, BENJAiriN.

BENJAMfN Calamy, second son of the preceding, was
educated at St. Pauls School, from whence he removed to
Catherine Hall, Cambridge, where he took his degrees in
arts, and obtained a fellowship. In 1677 he was chosen
minister of St. Mary, Aldermanbury, and soon after was
appointed chaplain to the King. In 1680 he took his
degree of D.D. In 1683 he preached a sermon, which he
afterwards published under the title of a Discourse about
a Scrupulous Conscience. This sermon he preached a
second time at Bow Church, and this excited a Non-
conformist, Thomas de Laune, who had been formerly a
schoolmaster, to write against it ; for which he was tyran-
nically imprisoned, a circumstance which greatly affected
Dr. Calamy, who exerted himself in behalf of De Laune.
In 1683 Calamy was admitted to the vicarage of St. Law-
rence Jewry, with St. Mary Magdalen, Milk-street, an-
nexed, to which he was collated by the dean and chapter
of St. Paul's, and in 1685 he was made a prebendary of
that cathedral. He died in 1686. — Ed. Calamy's Auto-
biography. SJierlock's Funeral Sermon.

CALAMY, EDMUND.

Edmund Calamy, grandson of Edmund before men-
tioned, was born in 1671. Having completed his education

380 CALVIN.

at different schools in England, he was sent to Utrecht ;
and in 1694 was ordained at London, in the Presbyterian
way. After officiating to different congregations, he suc-
ceeded Mr. x\lsop in Westminster. In 1702 he published
an abridgment of Baxter's Life and Times, with an ac-
count of the ejected ministers ; a subsequent edition of
which was enlarged to four volumes. This work occa-
sioned a controversy between the author and Mr. after-
wards Bishop Hoadley. In 1709 Mr. Calamy made a
tour in Scotland, where the degree of D.D. was conferred
on him by three Presbyterian universities. He died in
1732. Besides the above, he published two volumes of
sermons and some tracts. He also left a large manuscript
by him, entitled " An historical Account of my own Life
and Times," which was published in 1829 by Mr. Butt,
but is of little value. — Autobiography.

CALVIN, JOHN.

This celebrated founder of the religion which goes by
his name was bom on the 1 0th of July, 1509, at Noyon,
in Picardy. His proper name was Chauvin, which he
latinized into Calvinus, and hence the name of Calvin.
His father, Gerard Chauvin, was a cooper by trade, a wise
and prudent man, who secured for his son the advantages
of a good education ; which he was able to obtain for him
in his native town, under Claude D'Haugest. The youth
attracted the notice of a wealthy family of the first dis-
tinction in Picardy, the members of which very charitably
undertook the completion of his education, and sent him
to the College de la Marche, in Paris, where Calvin became
the pupil of Maturinus Corderius. He was afterwards
removed to the college of Montaigne, where he was under
the tuition of a Spanish professor. The powers of his
mind were soon displayed by the ease with which he
acquired languages, and by his skill in dialectics and
philosophy. He had proof in early life of the need there

CALVIN. 381

was of a reformation of the Church, in what occurred to
himself, for in his twelfth year he was presented to the
chapel of Xotre Dame de la Gesine in the cathedral of
Noyon, and six years afterwards to the cure of Marteville,
which he exchanged in 1529 for the cure of Pont I'Eveque.
But these preferments he resigned in his twenty-fifth year,
having imbibed the principles, if not of the Reformation,
at least of hostility to the Church, under Peter Robert
Olivetan, a fellow student and townsman, whom he met
at Paris. It does not appear that he was prepared at first
to seek ofiice among the reformers, but he was too high
minded to receive the emoluments of the Church, when
he was already actuated by feelings of hostility to it ; he
seems, therefore, to have turned his mind to the legal
profession, and he studied jurisprudence under Peter de
I'Etoile at Orleans, and afterwards under Andrew Alciat
at Bourges ; and hei'e he also placed himself under
Melchior Wolmar, the reformer, in order that he might
study the Greek language. He now returned to his
study of theology. And such was the energy of his mind,
that to pursue his studies, he robbed himself of food and
rest, going to bed late and hastening to rise up early ; so
that he laid the foundation, not only of that learning by
which he was distinguished, but of the dyspepsia, which
afflicted him throughout his life. He was not aware that
excess of study, like every other excess, is wrong. It is
certain that his opposition to the Church very soon became
notorious, though the line he was prepared to adopt was
not evident. On one occasion Erasmus said of him, "I see
in that young man the seeds of a dangerous pest, which
will one day throw great disorder into the Church."

His father dying while he was at Bourges, he was
obliged to abandon the study of the law, and to return
to Noyon. He soon after, however, returned to Paris,
where he published his commentary on the two books
of Seneca de dementia, and the publication is mem-
orable, as herein he first wrote his name Calvinus.
2k 2

382 CALVIN.

Although only twenty-four years of age, he became
known and esteemed by all who in that city had
secretly embraced the principles of the Reformation ; and
he soon had an opportunity of displaying his zeal.
Michael Cope, rector of the university of Paris, was
persuaded by Calvin to denounce in strong language, on
a public occasion, some of the chief errors of the Gallican
Church. In the composition of the discourse Calvin had a
considerable share, and both Cope and Calvin thought it
expedient to fly ; the latter, after wandering about from
place to place, at last found an asylum at Saintonge,
where, at the request of Louis du Tillet, he composed
some sermons and exhortations, intended to awaken a
spirit of enquiry, and to induce the people to search the
Scriptures for themselves. Here also he applied himself
assiduously to his studies, and collected the materials for
his great work. The Institutes of the Christian Religion.
Calvin was introduced to the court of Margaret, Queen of
Navarre, sister to Francis I. by LeFevre d'Estaple, a zealous
reformer ; and at Nerac he had further opportunities for
study, and for the cultivation of the society of men, after-
wards useful to him in propagating the principles of his
religion. He did not, however, remain long at Nerac, as
he returned to Paris in 1534, where he published a work
entitled Psychopannychia, to refute the error of those
who hold that the soul remains in a state of sleep in the
interval between death and the resurrection. The indis-
cretions of the reforming party at Paris having excited the
indignation of Francis I. Calvin again thought it prudent
to leave France, and withdrawing to Basle, he there
completed his Institutes, which he published at the close
of the year 1535. This celebrated work received from
time to time numerous important additions, and did not
cease to engage the author's attention to the end of his
life. The most complete of the numerous editions pub-
lished in the author's life-time, is that of Robert Stephens,
Geneva, 1559. In this work are displayed those wonderful

CALVIN. 383

powers of mind which enabled Calvin to rule as the
Protestant pope in his life-time, and to be to his disciples,
since his death, as an inspired apostle. Trusting, how-
ever, to his private judgment, and acting with the
presumption which was natural to him, he has fallen into
some fearful heresies. In the daring of his presumption
he stated a heresy with reference to the nature of our
Lord and Saviour Himself ; the heresy of .which he was
thus the author is called by Possevin the heresy of the
Autotheans, aud he speaks of Calvin as a Tritheist.
Calvin was severely rebuked by Bellarmin and Petavius
among the Piomanists, and by Episcopius and CurcellcBus
among the Protestants. Our own Bishop Bull, ha\dng
shewn that the heresy is repugnant to the Nicene faith,
exclaims : " But why do I endeavour to bind by the
authority of the council of Nice those who regard the
authority of the council as a thing of nought? For their
ring-leader has not feared to call the fathers of the council
of Nice fanatics, and the Nicene formula, ' God of God,
Light of Light, very God of very God,' a harsh expression,
mere battology, fitted rather for a song than a confession
of faith. Horresco hsec referens," continues Bishop Bull,
" I am horrified at saying these things ; and therefore I
most seriously exhort the pious and studious youth, that
they take heed of that spirit from which such effects as
these have proceeded. We owe much indeed to that man
(Calvin) for his good work in purging the Church of
Christ from popish superstitions; but far be it from us
that we should receive him for our master, or that we
should swear by his words ; or lastly, that we should be
afraid freely to remark, as there shall be cause for so
doing, his manifest errors, and his new and singular
determinations against the Catholic consent of antiquity.
Whosoever he is, or howsoever great in other respects, who
shall despise the authority of the ancient Catholic Church,
so far he can have no credit or authority with us. Un-
doubtedly the song which the great man ridiculed was
sung by a sacred chorus of about three hundred bishops,

384 CALVIN.

with presbyters and deacons innumerable, assembled in
the first and most august of (Ecumenical Councils. The
same was sung with w'onderful harmony by the ante-Nicene
Catholic doctors, as we have elsewhere proved. In a
word, that the Son of God is God of God, is the voice
and song of the whole Catholic Church of Christ, conso-
nant to the word of God in His holy oracles, and never
opposed by any but at his peril." — Defensio Fidei NicmKB
iv. 1—8.

It is worthy of observation, how strong was the hold
which an heretical puritanism had upon our Church at
that period, when Bishop Bull, on censuring a heretic,
was obliged to guard his language with so much caution
as is exhibited in the paragraph from his immortal w^ork
just quoted.

Although Calvin s views of the sacraments would be
repudiated as too high by modern Puritans, he was very
heretical in many of his statements with respect to them.
Some of his errors with reference to the Eucharist are
pointed out by Waterland. — Works, vii. p. 183. To this
subject we shall have presently to revert.

Upon Luther's notion of justification Calvin refined,
grafting upon it three important articles. In the first
place, what Luther predicated of justification, Calvin
extended to eternal salvation ; that is to say, whereas
Luther required the faithful to believe with infallible
certainty that they are justified, Calvin, besides the
certainty of justification, required the like of their eternal
predestination ; in so much, that a perfect Calvinist can
no more doubt of his being saved, than a perfect Lutheran
of his being justified. If a Calvinist were to make his par-
ticular confession of faith, he would put in this article, " I
am assured of my salvation." Thence follows, as Bossuet
observes, a second dogma, that, whereas Luther held
that a justified believer might fall from grace, Calvin,
on the contrary, maintains that grace once received
can never be lost. So that whoever is justified and
receives the Holy Ghost, is justified and receives the Holy

CALVIN. 885

Ghost for ever. This dogma is called the inamissibility
of righteousness. There was also a third dogma, which
Calvin established as a corollary from imputed righteous-
ness, namely, that baptism could not be necessary to
salvation, as the Lutherans maintained. It is clear that
they who hold such doctrines ought also to say that
infants enjoy grace independently of baptism, and from
admitting this inference Cahin did not shrink : one of the
novelties which he broached was this, that the children of
the faithful were born in the covenant, that is, in that
sanctity, which baptism did no more than seal in them ;
an unheard of doctrine in the Church, but necessary for
Calvin, in order to support his principles. The incon-
sistency of Calvin and his followers with respect to these
dogmata, is skilfully shewn by Bossuet. Although they
say on the one hand that the children of the faithful are
born in the covenant," and the seal of grace, which is
baptism, is only due to them because the thing itself,
namely, grace and regeneration, is acquired to them by
their being happily born of faithful parents . it appears,
on the other hand, that they will not allow that the
children of the faithful are always regenerated, when they
receive baptism, and this for two reasons ; the first, be-
cause, according to their maxims, the seal of baptism has
not its effect except with regard to the predestinated; the
second, because the seal of baptism works not always a
present effect, even with regard to the predestinated, since
such a person may have been baptized in his infancy who
was not regenerated till old age.

In treating of predestination, he confesses, that this is
a matter which appears to be very obscure and embar-
rassed ; notwithstanding, he determines expressly, that
those whom God has predestinated by his mere mercy,
are infallibly saved ; and that those whom he has destined
to damnation, are infallibly excluded from life eternal ;
that this depends on the decree of God, by which he has
resolved to save the one, and damn the other : that God
did not only foresee, but ordain the sin of Adam, and the

386 CALVIN.

sins of all other men ; and that the will of God imposes a
necessity of event, because nothing can be done but that
which God would have effected. He denies that men
co-operate with God in their salvation.

Soon after the publication of his Institutes, Calvin went
to Italy, where he was received by the Duchess of Ferrara,
daughter of Louis XII. and wife of Hercules D'Este,
towards whom, as an encourager of learned men, the
Reformers turned their attention, because her sentiments
were not very remote from theirs. He did not, however,
remain long at Ferrara, but proceeded to visit in succes-
sion several other towns in Italy, in which he took steps
to propagate his doctrines.

In 1536 Calvin returned to Paris with Anthony, his
only surviving brother, and ha\dng settled his private
affairs, he intended to proceed either to Strasburg or to
Basle. But the direct road being closed up on account
of the war, he was compelled to go through Geneva.
He arrived at Geneva, in August, 1536. He found this
city in a state of great confusion ; the civil government
was democratic, and in those days tumultuous; the Church
had been entirely overthrown, the Bishop and clergy
having been driven away : only such laws existed as the
individual influence of the pastors was able to impose
upon their several flocks. It was a tempting field for a
man so ambitious as Calvin. The reformed doctrines
had been introduced into Geneva in some shape, through
the instrumentality of Farel and Viret, and by Farel the
not unwilling Calvin was persuaded to take up his resi-
dence with them. The consequences of the Reformation
in Geneva had hitherto been disastrous. The most atro-
cious crimes were committed by the upholders of the
reformed doctrines, and deadly feuds existed between the
principal families. Being chosen by the consistory and
magistrates to be one of their ministers and professor of
Divinity, Calvin's acute mind perceived that although he
denied the Church to be a divine institution, and taught
people to seek direct communion with God without the

CALVIN. 387

intervention of the Church, still it was necessary to bind
men in a community, and to have laws for its preservation
as such. And therefore, in 1637, he composed a formula
of Christian doctrine, to which he added a short catechism,
and made the people to abjure Popery, and to swear to
the summary of doctrine which he had drawn up. He
established in short the Presbyterian religion, of which
he is the author. So bold a step could only have been
undertaken by a powerful mind, confident in its own
resources, a confidence which in Calvin's case led him
into the deepest errors. But when he went still further,
and assuming the power of the Popes in the middle ages,
determined to place Geneva under an interdict, by refus-
ing to administer the Lord's Supper, unless the people
renounced the factious spirit and the gross immoralities
which prevailed among these reformers, he found that he
had presumed too much on the patience of those who,
having appointed him to his office, could not understand
how he should possess any authority over them, except
what they themselves conferred. He was therefore ban-
ished from Geneva in 1538, and retired to Strasburg,
where, through the influence of Bucer and others, he was
appointed professor of theology, and established a French
congregation composed of numerous refugees. But he
felt that his absence from Geneva was only to be tempo-
rary ; he perceived that the field provided for his genius
was there ; and in order to keep his name and remembrance
before the people, he addressed to them several letters
from Strasburg, wherein he exhorted them to repentance,
to peace, to charity, and the love of God. He was especially
aroused when an attempt was made to rob him perma-
nently of what he intended to make his own dominion.
James Sadolet, Bishop of Carpentras, near Avignon, see-
ing the miserable state of irreligion and anarchy in which
Geneva was involved, and attributing these evils to the
rejection on the part of the Genevese, of the Church,
(which Sadolet so much wished to see reformed, but not
destroyed, that he was regarded in his latter years with

388 CALVIN.

suspicion at Rome,) addressed a Latin letter in 1539 to
the senate and people of Geneva, in which he affectionately
urged upon them the duty of returning to the Church.
To the piety and excellence of Sadolet all parties bear
witness., and he had certainly as much right to address
the Genevese as Calvin. It is to be regretted that Protes-
tant historians should be so blinded by their prejudices,
as to attribute motives, calling the attempt of Sadolet to
benefit the Genevese " insidious," while in Calvin's pro-
ceedings they can perceive nothing but pure intentions
and an honest purpose. It is admitted that if Sadolet had
written in French, instead of Latin, he would probably
have caused a strong sensation among the people, so dis-
contented were they with the existing state of things. But
Calvin came to the rescue, he wrote two letters in confuta-
tion of the address of Sadolet, who, though a pious and
learned man, did not possess powers sufficient to compete
with such a character as Calvin, and the Genevese re-
mained determined in their hostility to the Church.

About two years afterwards he accompanied Bucer to
the Diet at Worms and Ratisbon, where he had a confer-
ence with Philip Melancthon. While he was at Strasburg
p^e f wrote, in 1540, his De Caera Domini Libellus. The
Lutherans and Zuinglians had disputed for fifteen years
on the article of the Real Presence, and Calvin, with the
presumption peculiar to youth, constituted himself umpire,
and decided that the two parties did not understand each
other, and that the leaders on both sides were in the wrong.
The doctrine of Calvin, says Dupin, concerning the Sacra-
ment, is not at the bottom different from that of the
Zuinglians, although he useth very positive words to ex*
press the presence of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ ;
for he affirms, that in the Eucharist we are not only par-
takers of the spirit of Jesus Christ, but also of His flesh
which is distributed to us ; that He nourisheth us there
with the proper substance of His body and blood ; that it
is not to be doubted, but that we receive His very body, and
that this communion of the body and blood of Christ our

CALVIN. 389

Lord is given under the symbols of bread and wine to all
that celebrate His Supper, according to its lawful institu-
tion, so that we truly receive what is signified by the
symbols ; that the body which is received is not sym-
bolical body, as it was not a symbolical spirit which ap-
peared in the baptism of our Lord, but the Holy Spirit
itself was really and substantially under the symbol or
outward form of a dove ; that Jesus Christ is united to us
in this Sacrament, not by fancy and imagination, nor by
thought, or a bare apprehension of the mind, but really
and indeed by a true and substantial union; that the
manner of our receiving Christ's Body, is very different
from the other manner of receiving Him by faith ; that
this mystery is incomprehensible, and contains in it a
miracle, which exceeds the bounds and the capacity of the
mind of man, and which is the work of Almighty God,
much above the course, of nature ; that there is a divine
and supernatural change in it, which surpasses our sensi-
ble knowledge : that the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ
are truly given to the unworthy, as well as to the faithful
and elect, though they are not received with benefit, unless
it be by the faithful only.

During his residence at Strasburg, Calvin made the
acquaintance of Castalio, and procured for him the situa-
tion of a regent at Geneva ; and it was during his stay in
this city that, at the recommendation of Bucer, he married
Idoletta, the widow of John Storder, an Anabaptist minis-
ter, whom he had converted, and who had been lately cut
off by the plague. She had some children by her former
husband, and bore Calvin one son, who died in infancy.
She died herself in 1549. Calvin appears, from his let-
ters, to have been deeply affected at her loss, and never
married again. Here also he published his Commentary
on the Epistle to the Romans,

Persons accustomed to the influence of a powerful
mind, though they may rebel for* a time, soon return to
their allegiance, and it does not surprise us therefore to

VOL. HI. g L

390 CALVIN.

find Calvin in 1541 reinstated in his authority at Genevs.
With the genius and temper of Hildebrand, though with-
out his resources, he seems to have entertained the
magnificent idea of establishing a spiritual empire in
opposition, to that of Rome, of which Geneva was to be
the capital, and himself the Pope. That he failed is to
be attributed to the circumstances of the time rather than
to his own want of genius ; he became, as Maimbourg
observes, not the pontiff only, but the caliph of Geneva,
and by his writings and emissaries gave laws to the scat-
tered congregations of his disciples in other countries,
but he failed in establishing an empire ; his influence
was that of the mighty mind of an individual, and when
he died he left no successor.

Calvin was not a man to retire from his principles,
and therefore immediately upon his return to Geneva
he resumed the work, for commencing which he had been
banished. He availed himself of his popularity to estab-
lish a consistory, consisting of all the ministers of religion,
who were to be perpetual members, and also of twice the
same number of laymen chosen annually. To these he
committed the charge of public morality, with power to
determine all manner of public causes ; with authority to
convene, controul, and punish, even with excommunication,
whomsoever they might think deserving. It was in vain
that many advanced objections to this scheme : that they
urged the despotic character of this court ; the certainty
too, that perpetual judges, though fewer in number, would
in fact triumph over a majority annually elected; and
that Calvin, through his power over the ministry, would
be master of the decisions of the whole tribunal. He
knew his popularity, and the people knew that Strasburg
was ready to receive him back, and he persisted therefore
inflexibly in his determination ; and since there now
remained with the people of Geneva only the choice of
receiving his laws or sending him once more into exile,
they reluctantly acquiesced, and on the 20th of November,
1541, the Presbyterian religion was established in Geneva.

CALVIN. 391

Calvin was thus a sovereign prince in fact, though with-
out the title, and he must have the blame which attaches
to a sovereign for the evil deeds done in the name of
the state, as well as accept the praise which is due for
meritorious conduct. He was indefatigable. Notwith-
standing the assistance he continually received from Farel
and from Viret, it is not easy to conceive how he sus-
tained his various labours ; especially if we consider that
he was the subject of several violent and continual disor-
ders. During a fortnight in each month, he preached
every day ; gave three lectures in theology every week ;
assisted at all the deliberations of the consistory, and at
the meetings of the pastors ; met the congregation every
Friday ; instructed the French Churches by tbe frequent
advices which they solicited from him ; and defended the
reformation against the attacks of its enemies, and parti-
cularly those of the French priests.

Geneva thus became the common centre to which all
persons opposed to the Church of Rome resorted. Calvin
established an academy there, which long maintained its
reputation for learning. He made the city a literary
mart, and encouraged all the French refugees, and others
who sought his advice, to apply themselves to the occupa-
tion of a printer or librarian ; and having framed the
ecclesiastical regimen, he directed his attention to the
improvement of the municipal government of the place ;
for the council of Geneva, knowing his attainments in
the science of jurisprudence, consulted him upon all mat-
ters of importance, and employed him in framing their
edicts and laws, which were completed and appeared in
1543. He encouraged, both by his speech and writings,
those who suffered persecution from the Popish party, and
was indefatigable in his public labours and private studies.
In 154-2 he confuted a number of articles of belief, put
forward by the faculty of theology of the Sorbonne ; and
wrote against Pighius four books on the subject of the
Freedom of the Will, which he dedicated to Melancthon.
In the following year he had a quarrel with Castalio.

392 CALVIK

Calvin became acquainted with Castalio in the year
ifeSQ, at Strasburg. In a translation of the Bible into
Latin, he had attempted to make the ancient Hebrew
writers speak in the language of Cicero, and even endea-
voured to make them sometimes breathe the tender verses
of Ovid ; this version Calvin highly blamed, as well as
several sentiments which it contained. Castalio, whose
pride was wounded, asked permission of the council ta
dispute publicly with Calvin on the descent of Jesus
Christ into hell, which, through the influence of Calvin,
they refused ; but he was allowed to commence that dis-
pute before the assembly of ministers ; it lasted a long
while without any success. Castalio at length became so
highly irritated, that he attacked Calvin in a sermon;
and the council, or rather Calvin acting through the coun-
cil, deposed him from the ministry. Castalio retired to
Basil, where he persisted in his singularities, and in his
hatred of Calvin, until the time of his death.

On the assembling of the synod at Spires, Calvin took
occasion to publish a paper on the Necessity of Ecclesias-
tical Reform : this was followed by two tracts against the
Anabaptists, and another against the Nicomedians, who
maintained, that while they repudiated the errors of the
Church of Rome, they might conform to it externally, in
countries where Romanism was established.

In the year 1547, James Gruet was apprehended for
affixing to the pulpit of the ancient cathedral, what was
considered to be a libel against the reformed of Geneva,
and particularly the reformers and ministers. Being
apprehended, and his papers and letters examined, they
were found to contain several passages against Calvin and
the Presbyterian discipline which he had established. He
was accused of having spoken with contempt of religion
and the laws, of having written licentious songs, of having
endeavoured to overthrow the authority of the consistory,
and of having spoken disrespectfully of the Genevese
preachers, and particularly of Calvin. Gruet was be-
headed on the 26th of July.

CALVIN. 393

In the same year that this legal murder was perpetrated,
Calvin wrote his antidote against the acts of the council
of Trent, and a letter to the reformed congregations at
Rouen, against the practices of a Franciscan, who was
employed in disseminating the principles of Carpocrates,
which the reformers of the Anabaptist persuasion had
lately revived. His commentary on six of the Epistles of
St. Paul was published in 1548 or 1549 ; he wrote also a
tract against the Interim.

In the mean time he was consolidating his power in
Geneva , he received with open arms the persecuted or
the discontented from aU other countries, and Geneva
became the refuge for the destitute, whose gratitude to
their protector knew no bounds ; over the reformers of
Germany he endeavoured, though not with success, to
establish his influence, and seeing that it was a hopeless
task to attempt to reconcile the Lutherans and the
Zuinglians, on the doctrine of the Lords Supper, he
threw himself more completely into the Zuinglian party,
and at a conference with the reformed ministers of Zurich,
in 1549, he altered or modified the opinions he had for-
merly expressed concerning the Eucharist ; and united,
by an agreement, the congregations of Zurich and Geneva
in the closest bonds.

While consolidating his power in foreign parts, he
preserved Geneva in a state of tranquillity, until he began
to extend the powers of the consistory, now entirely un-
der his control. The first symptoms of opposition were
shewn, when, acting through the consistoiy, he gave direc-
tions for the non-observance of Christmas-day, and ordain-
ed that no days should be observed except Sunday. His
opponents asserted that the right of citizenship ought not
to be conferred upon strangers taking refuge in Geneva,
and so strong was the feeling at one time excited against
him, that meeting him on his return from preaching, a
mob forced him into the middle of the road, an insult
which he resented, and they attempted to throw Raymond,
'2 L '2

394 CALVIN.

his colleague, over the bridge of the Rhone. They
afterwards excited a tumuU in the church of St. Gervais,
because the minister, following a iiile laid down by
Calvin, refused to give the name of Baltazar, to a child
whom they brought to be baptized.

But by the steady perseverance of Calvin, and the power
of his party, these disturbances were subdued, and the
sternness of his rule kept people in check. Of his
severity we have an instance in his treatment of Bolsec.
Jerome Bolsec, a Carmelite friar of Paris, having embraced
the tenets of the Genevan reformation, was permitted to
preach. But, unfortunately for himself, he ventured to
take a different view of the dogma of predestination from
that taken by Calvin, who endeavoured to convince Bolsec
in private conversation of what Calvin deemed to be his
errors. Bolsec naturally thought that his view of pre-
destination was as likely to be right as that of Calvin,
and was not convinced by his arguments. On the contrary,
he publicly asserted his sentiments, in reply to a sermon
which had been preached on the subject of predestination;
Calvin was not in his usual place, and the incautious
Bolsec, in the absence of the Genevan pontiff, felt his
confidence increase. But Calvin was present amongst the
crowd, and no sooner had Bolsec concluded than Calvin
arose and answered him, or attempted to do so. Bolsec
had surely as much right to exercise his private judgment
on this subject as Calvin upon any otfier, but such
was not the law of Geneva ; Bolsec was sent to prison,
and afterwards brought to trial. He was banished from
Geneva on the 18th of December, 1551, with a threat,
that if ever he were found within the city or its territory,
he would be treated with signal severity. The ministers
of Geneva approved of what Calvin had written on pre-
destination ; though there were not wanting some in the
canton of Berne who asserted that he made God the
author of sin.

To Michael Servetus the conduct of Cal^^n was still

CALVIN. 395

more severe. Servetus, a physician, and an anti-trini-
tarian protestant, was bom at Villa Nuova in AiTagon,
in the same year with Calvin, with whom he had long
been engaged in a correspondence, which finally degener-
ated into angry and abusive controversy. He agreed v.ith
Calvin in holding the doctrine of the Bible, and the Bible
only; and with him, rejecting the authority of tradition, of
the fathers and the councils, he asserted the right of
private judgment. But unfortunately for Servetus he did
not understand that no private judgment could be right,
unless it coincided with the private judgment of Calvin.
Holding the Bible, and the Bible only, as interpreted by
his private judgment, he rejected the doctrine of the
Holy Trinity, and blasphemed the God of Christians. He
published very early in life, " Seven Books concerning
the Errors of the Trinity," and he continued in the same
principles until the ^ear 1553, when he put forth at
Vienne in Dauphine, a work entitled Christianismi
Restitutio. The Zuinglian and Calvinistic reformers were
justly alarmed at seeing their principles, of the Bible,
and the Bible only, and private judgment, thus pushed
to their extreme conclusions ; and QEcolampadius, in
writing to Bucer, remarked, " Our Church will be very
ill spoken of, unles:; our divines make it their business to
cry him down." "And had they been contented to pro-
claim their dissent from his doctrine," (observ^es the
intelligent writer of Calvin's Life in Knight's Gallery of
Portraits, from whom we shall transcribe this account of
Servetus,) " or to assail it by reasonable argument, they
would have done no more than their duty to their own
communion absolutely demanded of them.

" But Calvin was not a man who would argue where he
could command, or persuade where he could overthrow.
Full of vehemence and bitterness, inflexible and relentless,
he was prepared to adopt and to justify extreme measures,
wheresoever they answered his purpose best. He was
animated by the pride, intolerance, and cruelty of the

396 CALVIN.

Church of Rome, and he planted and nourished those evil
passions in his little consistory of Geneva.

" Survetus, having escaped from confinement at Vienne,
and flying for refuge to Naples, was driven by evil destiny,
or his own infatuation, to Geneva. Here he strove to
conceal himself, till he should be enabled to proceed on
his journey ; but he was quickly discovered by Calvin,
and immediately cast into prison. This was in the sum-
mer of 1553. Presently followed the formality of his
trial ; and when we read the numerous articles of impeach-
ment, and observe the language in which they are couched ;
— w^hen we peruse the humble petitions which he ad-
dressed to the ' Syndics and Council,' praying only that an
advocate might be granted him, w^hich prayer was haugh-
tily refused ; — when we perceive the misrepresentations
of his doctrine, and the offensive terms of his condemna-
tion, we appear to be carried back again to the Halls of
Constance, and to be witnessing the fall of Huss and
Jerome beneath their Roman Catholic oppressors. So
true it is (as Grotius had sufficient reason to say), ' that
the Spirit of Antichrist did appear at Geneva as well as
at Rome.'

" But the magistrates of this republic did not venture
completely to execute the will of Calvin, without first con-
sulting the other Protestant cities of Switzerland; namely,
Zurich, Berne, Basle, and Schaffhausen. The answers
returned by these all indicated very great anxiety for the
extinction of the heresy, without however expressly de-
manding the blood of the heretic. The people of Zurich
were the most violent : and the answer of their ' Pastors,
Readers, and Ministers,' which is praised and preserved
by Calvin, is worthy of the communion from which they
had so lately seceded. As soon as these communications
reached Geneva, Servetus was immediately condemned to
death (on the 26th of October, 1553), and was executed on
the day following.

" There is extant a letter written by Calvin to his friend
and brother-minister, William Farel, (dated the '20th),

CALVIN. 397

which announces that the fatal sentence had been passed,
and would be executed on the morrow. It is only remark-
able for the cold conciseness and heartless indifference of
its expressions. Not a single word indicates any feeling
of compassion or repugnance. And as the work of perse-
cution was carried on without mercy, and completed with-
out pity, so likewise was it recollected without remorse ;
and the Protestant republican minister of Christ continued
for some years afterwards to insult with abusive epithets
the memory of his victim.

" Soon after the death of Sei-vetus. Calvin published a
vindication of his proceedings, in which he defended,
without any compromise, the principle on which he had
acted. It is entitled, ' A Faithful Exposition and short
Refutation of the Errors of Servetus, wherein it is shown
that heretics should be restrained by the power of the
sword.' His friend and biographer Beza, also put forth a';
work, ' On the propriety of punishing Heretics by the
Civil authority.' Thus Calvin not only indulged his own
malevolent humour, but also sought to establish among
the avowed principles of his own Church the duty of exter-
minating all who might happen to diffffer from it."

Another writer observes, that *' the more closely this
treatment of Sei-vetus is examined, the more deeply it will
be found to stamp on Calvin the brand of intolerance and
barbarity. No sooner did his unsuspecting victim come
within his reach, than he sprang upon him with the
ferocity of a tiger. He precipitated the accomplishment
of the dreadful deed. He looked forward to it with
indifference, if not with satisfaction ; he looked back upon
it without remorse." It is certain that letters have been
produced, written by Calvin to Bolsec and Farel, in which
he expressly declares, alluding to the expected visit of
Servetus to Geneva, " Jam constitutum habeo, si veniet,
nunquam pati ut salvus, (^some letters have vivus) exeat."
Of the many circumstances of aggravation attending this
legal murder, the most striking is, that Servetus had not
pubhshed his book at Geneva, but at Vienne ; and that

398 CALVIN.

he was not the subject of that republic, nor domiciled in
that city.

The conduct of Calvin towards Gentilis was in perfect
keeping with his conduct towards Servetus, and he was
only prevented from shedding blood again, by the fortunate
circumstance that Gentilis retracted his errors. Gentilis
was not a follower of Servetus, but seems rather to have
been a tritheist. At first he proposed his opinion pri-
vately, and amongst other persons, to Jean Paul Alciat
Milanois, and to Georges Blandrata, a physician, pro-
fessing only to examine the reasons which might support,
and those which might overthrow it. But the consistory
of the Italian Church, having been informed that this
sentiment was spreading throughout the town, convoked
an extraordinary assembly, at which, in the presence of a
certain number of seigneurs, chosen for the occasion, and
of all the ministers and elders, the reasons alleged in
support of that doctrine were refuted by Calvin ; this
conference induced all the Italians to sign the orthodox
doctrine, with the exception of six, who shortly afterwards,
at the solicitation of their friends, signed it also, although
they did not approve of it, as soon became evident.
Valentine Gentilis at first refused to subscribe the pro-
posed formulary ; he, however, complied afterwards, but
continued to dogmatize against the received doctrine, on
which account he was committed to prison, where he held
a dispute with Calvin, on the 15th of July, who answered
him in writing. Being convicted of perjury and of
voluntary heresy, he was condemned to be beheaded.
Having, however, abjured his heresies, his sentence was
commuted for an ignominious punishment, to which he
submitted on the 2nd of September.

What was meant by the right of private judgment,
when asserted by Calvin, it is difficult to conjecture. But
his conduct is less surprising when we think of the
Puritans of the present day. Nothing shews more de-
pravity of heart, than for a Puritan or dissenter to speak
of heresy. To hold the right of private judgment, and to

CALVIN. 399

call another a heretic, is a proof that a person in such a
predicament is, if not weak in intellect, a man utterly void
of Christian feeling.

The inflexibility of Calvin's character, which preserved
him through life on his Genevan throne, is strikingly
exemplified in his conduct with respect to Bertelier.
Bertelier, a man of lax morals, having been suspended
from the communion of the Church, urged on by Perrin,
sought from the council a reversal of the sentence. This
was granted, and the enemies of Calvin pleased themselves
with the belief that they had him upon the horns of a
dilemma, from which all his dexterity would not be able
to extricate him ; for he must now either resist the autho-
rity of the consistory, or submit to the subversion of his
cherished discipline. But they little knew the character
of the reformer. Calvin, having received notice of the
resolution of the counciHwo days before the administration
of the Lord's Supper, instantly resolved upon the course
he would pursue, and on the Sunday, having preached
with energy against those who profaned the sacred myste-
ries, closed with these words, — " For my own part, after
the example of Chrysostom, I will sooner expose myself
to death than allow this hand to stretch forth the sacred
things of the Lord to those who despise his ordinances."
These expressions produced such effect upon the oppo-
nents of Calvin, that Perrin secretly despatched a mes-
senger to Bertelier to desire him not to present himself
at the communion. But Calvin did not stop here ; he
was determined to provide effectually against the recur-
rence of such a proceeding Accordingly, on the evening
of the same day, after discoursing upon the Apostle's
farewell to the Church of Ephesus, (Acts xx. 32) declar-
ing that he would never countenance, either by advice
or example, disobedience to the civil power, and exhort-
ing the people to persevere in the doctrine they had
heard, he concluded his sermon as if it were the last he was
ever to preach at Geneva, in these words, — " Seeing that
such is the present condition of affairs here, permit me

400 CALVIN.

also, my brethren, to apply to you the words of the x^postle,
' I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace.'"
The effect of this address was overpowering. The decree
of the council was suspended, and things quietly returned
to their former course. In the same year Calvin pub-
lished his commentaries on St. John ; and not long after
he repaired to Berne to defend himself against the at-
tacks of Castalio and Bolsec, both of whom he caused to
be banished from that territory. In 1559 he was pre-
sented with the freedom of the city of Geneva, and in the
same year he was seized with a quartan ague, which
greatly shattered his fragile frame ; he did not, however,
intermit his labours, but revised and republished his
Institutes, in Latin and French, and enlarged and im-
proved his commentary on Isaiah. In 1561 the state of
his health prevented him from attending at the famous
conference at Poissy. It appears, however, from his
correspondence with Beza, and with several of the depu-
ties from the reformed in France, that no step was taken
on their part on that occasion without Calvin's advice and
consent. Hitherto his party had been identified with the
Lutherans, or at least was regarded by the Roman
Catholics as holding the tenets set forth in the Augsburg
Confession. But at Poissy the Cardinal of Lorraine,
having distinctly asked the deputies from France and
Geneva whether they adopted that confession, received for
answer, that they rejected the tenth article, which relates
to the holy communion ; and accordingly, the followers of
Calvin thenceforth formed a distinct sect, and were called
Calvmists.

The disputes in which Calvin was interested were not
yet finished : in 1561, a fresh discussion arose between
him and Baldwin, who had published during the confer-
ence of Poissy, a book of Cassander's, under the title,
De Officio pii ac publicae tranquilitatis vere amantis in
hoc religionis studio. To this work Calvin replied ; a
controversy ensued, in the course of which, a warmth
of temper was betrayed on both sides, which reflected

CALVIN. 401

no honour on the disputants ; but which is far from being
singular in theological controversies.

For the two following years his infirmities increased,
and in 1563 they became so severe and complicated, that
it was a matter of astonishment to his friends how a body
so vrasted by disease could continue to exist. Yet he still
persevered in his studies and public duties, and, untired
himself, exhausted his amanuensis by dictating to him.
His last undertaking was his Commentary on the Book of
Joshua, which he commenced this year, and finished on
his death-bed. On the 6th of February, 1564, he preached
his last sermon, and on the same day delivered his last
lecture in theolog}^ He was, indeed, often carried to the
congregation, but he seldom spoke. In a letter which he
wrote to the physicians of Montpellier, he gives an account
of the numerous ailments under which he had long
laboured. He had but little sleep. For the last ten years
of his life he was never able to take nourishment till
supper-time. He was subject to headache, the only
remedy for which was abstinence, on which account he
sometimes remained for six-and-thirty hoars without food.
Five years before his death he was seized with a spitting
of blood. He was no sooner freed from the quartan ague
than he was attacked with the gout; he was afterwards
afflicted with the cholic, and, a few months before he died,
with the stone. The physicians exhausted their art upon
him, and no man ever observed their instructions with
more regularity. But so far as mental labour w^as con-
cerned, no man was ever less careful of himself; the
most violent headaches never prevented him from occupy-
ing the pulpit in his turn. On the 2nd of April, though
much reduced, he attended public worship, and received
the sacrament from the hands of Beza ; listening also to
the sermon, and joining, as well as he was able, in the
psalmody. On the 28th, all the ministers of the town
and neighbourhood being assembled in his room, according
to his desire, he delivered to them a parting address. His

VOL. III. 2 M

402 CALVIN.

friend Farel, venerable for his piety and his years, came
from Neufchatel to take a last adieu ; and the scene was
tender and affecting. On the 24th of May, 1564, at eight
o'clock in the evening, he expired, having retained his
senses, and even his speech, to the last.

We will give Calvin's character as it appeared to himself.
In writing to Melancthon, he says, " I own myself much
your inferior ; yet am I in no way ignorant to what a degree
God has exalted me in this theatre, nor can our friendship
be violated without injuring the Church." In his answer
to Balduinus, he says, " He tells me, with reproach, that
I have no children, and that God had snatched away the
son He had bestowed upon me. Ought I to be thus
reproached? I who have so many thousand children
throughout all Christendom." To which he adds, " To all
France is known my irreproachable faith, my integrity,
my patience, my watchfulness, my moderation, my assidu-
ous labours, for the service of the Church : things that
from my early youth stand proved by so many illustrious
tokens. With the support of such a conscience, to be
able to hold my station to the very end of life is enough
for me." In another place he commends his frugality,
his incessant labours, his constancy in dangers, his watch-
fulness to comply with his charge, his indefatigable appli-
cation to extend the kingdom of Christ, his integrity in
defending the doctrine of piety, and the serious occupa-
tion of his whole life in the meditation of heavenly
things." Westphalus,